tentacle

Concise Oxford English Dictionary © 2008 Oxford University Press:
tentacle/ˈtentəkl/

▶noun

• 1 a long slender flexible appendage of an animal, used for grasping or moving about, or bearing sense organs.

• 2 a tendril or sensitive glandular hair on a plant.

• 3 an insidious spread of influence and control: the Party's tentacles reached into every part of people's lives.

– derivatives
tentacled adjective,
tentacular adjective,
tentaculate adjective.

– origin C18: anglicized from mod. L. tentaculum, from L. tentare, temptare ‘to feel, try’.