leafletn.
/ˈliːflᵻt/, U.S. /ˈliflᵻt/ 1. Botany.
a. Each of the divisions (small leaves) of a compound leaf; = foliole n. 1.
ΘΚΠ
the world > plants > part of plant > leaf > [noun] > leaflet
lacinia1668
label1672
pinna1703
label1707
pinnula1707
ala1712
lobe1731
pinnule1751
lobe-leaf1758
leafit1761
little leaf1775
wing1776
foliole1785
leaflet1811
lobelet1850
auricle1861
lobule1880
pinnulet1881
pointrel1881
1777 W. Curtis Flora Londinensis I. at Valeriana Officinalis Leaves..the terminating Leaflet three lobed.
1811 A. T. Thomson London Dispensatory ii. 396 The leaves are..pinnate, with a terminal leaflet a little larger than the rest.
1872 D. Oliver Lessons Elem. Bot. (new ed.) i. vii. 76 Compound leaves..having the blade divided into leaflets.
1929 W. Martin N.Z. Nature Bk. (1930) II. iv. 44 Pig-fern and Lace-fern are local names given to a dwarf species (Paesia scaberula), with finely divided leaflets.
1974 S. Clapham Greenhouse Bk. xiv. 131 Grape Ivy..is somewhat similar to Cissus antartica , to which it is related, except that the dark green leaves are composed of three leaflets.
2006 Northern Woodlands Autumn 15/2 Each leaf is connected to the twig—as opposed to the leaflets on a leaf, which are attached to the leafstalk.
b. Each of the segments of a calyx; = sepal n. 1. rare.
ΘΚΠ
the world > plants > part of plant > reproductive part(s) > flower or part containing reproductive organs > [noun] > parts of > calyx > sepal(s)
five brothers (of the rose)1578
supporter1626
impaler1672
pale1682
leaflet1785
sepal1829
1785 T. Martyn in tr. J.-J. Rousseau Lett. Elements Bot. xxiii. 327 Arabis has four glands, within the leaflets of the calyx.
1787 E. Darwin et al. tr. C. Linnaeus et al. Families of Plants I. 153 Perianth five-leaved: the leaflets lanced [L. foliolis lanceolatis], equal, permanent.
1806 B. M'Mahon Amer. Gardener's Cal. 147 Calycine leaflets.
1950 Ann. Missouri Bot. Garden 37 211 Characters such as absolute calyx size, number and width of leaflets, presence or absence of pedicellar portion of calyx, etc.,..show little constancy or correlation.
2. † b. poetic. A petal. Obsolete. rare.
a. gen. A small or young leaf.
ΘΚΠ
the world > plants > part of plant > leaf > [noun] > young leaf
leafit1761
leaflet1793
1793 W. Kendall Poems 87 Weep, deserted poppies, weep! Fays no more in filmy trance Round your slumbering leaflets dance.
1798 W. Sotheby tr. C. M. Wieland Oberon x. 337 From off the woodland glade No not a leaflet [Ger. blat] falls a wretch to aid!
1839 A. Ure Dict. Arts 344 It has a cup-shaped calyx..The leaflets are united at their base, of a heart shape and toothed; stigmas three to five.
1854 ‘M. Harland’ Alone xxviii The willow leaflets were just putting out.
1923 A. de Wit Island-India 19 She spread it all around her and with deft finger-tips hung among the long black tresses small flowers and leaflets and softly clinging rose petals.
1998 B. Telban Dancing through Time vii. 201 Pads made of the tender young leaflets of the sago palm.
ΘΚΠ
the world > plants > part of plant > reproductive part(s) > flower or part containing reproductive organs > [noun] > parts of > petal
leafeOE
fall1629
petalum1687
petal1712
petalon1720
flower-leaf1727
leafit1830
leaflet1855
phyllode1874
1855 T. T. Lynch Rivulet xliv. 42 When Their [sc. blossoms'] colour fades, their leaflets dry.
3.
a. Zoology. A thin, flat, leaflike structure; esp. a gill filament in a fish or aquatic invertebrate (cf. gill leaf n. at gill n.1 Compounds 3).
ΘΚΠ
the world > life > the body > internal organs > [noun] > of specific shape or formation
pocketa1450
cystis1543
vesike1577
vesicle1578
belly1594
ventricle1641
vesicula1705
pouch1712
cyst1721
sac1741
leaflet1826
calyx1828
node1892
the world > life > biology > physical aspects or shapes > shape > [noun] > leaf-shaped
leaflet1826
phyllidium1890
the world > life > the body > vascular system > blood vessel > [noun] > valve of
valve1615
leaflet1826
1826 W. Kirby & W. Spence Introd. Entomol. III. 392 Foliola (the Leaflets). Rigid, exarticulate, dilated, leaf-like anal organs.
1835–6 Todd's Cycl. Anat. & Physiol. I. 695/1 Respiration is effected by means of four branchial leaflets..arranged on either side of the body.
1849 Lancet 11 Aug. 142/1 In the above illustration one of these leaflets [of the branchial lamellæ] has been given.
1906 Amer. Naturalist 40 173 The first one, the Acmæidæ, comprises those limpets which retain the primitive gill (ctenidium) with or without a cordon of branchial leaflets.
1982 R. F. Chapman in Adv. Insect Physiol. 16 308 In the calypterate flies the ovipositor comprises the terminal abdominal segments plus a pair of anal, or lateral, leaflets.
2000 C. Little Biol. Soft Shores & Estuaries v. 103 The gill filaments are reduced to small triangular leaflets on the left side of the mantle cavity.
b. Anatomy and Zoology. Any of the thin membranous structures forming part of a valve in the heart or a vein; a cusp (cusp n. 6b).
ΘΚΠ
the world > life > the body > vascular system > heart > [noun] > valve > parts of
lunula1856
leaflet1873
1873 Philadelphia Med. Times 25 Oct. 49/2 A process of inflammation of a low grade will be established, which leads to thickening and softening, and subsequently to contraction and stiffening, of the leaflets of the valve.
1936 G. R. Herrmann Synopsis Dis. Heart & Arteries xvii. 254 The degrees to which valvular lesions develop depend upon..the trauma to which these inflamed leaflets are subjected.
1961 R. D. Baker Essent. Pathol. xiv. 333 Uncomplicated insufficiency occurs when the valve leaflets are held against the wall of the heart or of the great vessels or when the ring of the valve is dilated.
2013 Developmental Biol. 373 340/1 Venous valve leaflets are comprised of two endothelial layers which are separated by a layer of extracellular matrix.
4. † a. literary leaflet: a short biographical article or memoir forming part of a periodical publication. Obsolete.
ΚΠ
1852 New Monthly Mag. Oct. 142 (heading) Literary Leaflets.
1853 New Monthly Mag. Aug. 374 Were I designing a Literaturblatt for some transcendental Deutsch journal..instead of a ‘literary leaflet’ for the New Monthly, I might plume myself in complacent anticipation on [sic] a host of readers.
1867 Publisher's Circular 15 Feb. 93 Miss Martineau..is reprinting, for private circulation among her own friends.., her Memoirs of the late Lord Canning and the late Lord Elgin, from Once a Week and the Daily News respectively. The little work is to be called A British Friendship... It is understood that this is Miss Martineau's last ‘literary leaflet’.
b. A single sheet of paper, folded or unfolded, containing printed matter, such as advertising or public or political information, and typically distributed free in public places or door-to-door. Also: several sheets of paper folded into a small booklet, but not typically fastened together (cf. booklet n. 1, pamphlet n. 1b).
ΘΚΠ
society > communication > information > publishing or spreading abroad > publishing or spreading by leaflets or notices > [noun] > leafleting > leaflet for public distribution
flying sheet1769
fly-sheet1833
leaflet1860
throwaway1883
fly-bill1891
handout1907
1860 Daily News 4 June 3/5 Some of the children..had in their possession leaflets with pictures and prayers in the French language upon them.
1867 R. Broughton Cometh up as Flower I. xv. 220 Leaflets (as Spurgeon and Co. have christened very young tracts).
1886 Q. Rev. Jan. 12 A generous gift of Liberation leaflets for home use and distribution among the neighbours.
1912 Talking Machine News & Jrnl. Amusements Nov. 529/1 The Petmecky Needle, which plays ten times, is the subject of an interesting little leaflet.
1922 Libr. Jrnl. 1 Sept. 695 (advt.) Useful in Americanization work and in schools. An 8-page leaflet, envelope-insert size.
1977 ‘E. McBain’ Long Time no See viii. 123 A hawker for one of the rubdown emporiums handed her a leaflet.
2014 London Evening Standard 14 Aug. 14/1 This week radicals distributed pro-Caliphate leaflets on Oxford Street.
Compounds
C1. Chiefly general attributive (in sense 4), as leaflet literature, leaflet writer, etc.
ΘΚΠ
society > communication > information > publishing or spreading abroad > publishing or spreading by leaflets or notices > [noun] > leafleting > leaflet for public distribution > collectively
leaflet literature1869
society > leisure > the arts > literature > prose > non-fiction > treatise or dissertation > [noun] > small > writing of > one who
pamphleter1583
pamphleteer1614
pamphlet-writer1735
leaflet writer1869
leafleteer1892
1869 Insurance Times June 419/1 Eastern life companies have been incessantly misrepresented and traduced in its advertisements and leaflet literature.
1903 Westm. Gaz. 13 Aug. 2/3 Mr. C. A. Vince, M.A., chief leaflet-writer to Mr. Chamberlain.
1956 J. Barth Floating Opera iii. 22 Not a parlor communist, either, mind: an out-and-out leaflet-writing revolutionary who had sold his speedboat.
1965 N.Y. Times 7 Nov. (Mag.) 25/1 Like everything else on the street, the leaflet-sized placards..are tattered and torn.
2002 San Mateo (Calif.) County Times (Nexis) 21 Oct. On a tree-shaded plaza at the University of California, Berkeley, two leaflet-covered tables..are flash points of debate.
C2.
leaflet campaign n. the concerted or widespread distribution of leaflets concerning a particular topic or advertising a particular product or service.
ΘΚΠ
society > communication > information > publishing or spreading abroad > publishing or spreading by leaflets or notices > [noun] > leafleting
leaflet campaign1885
leaflet raid1933
leaflet drop1945
leafleting1945
1885 Birmingham Daily Post 30 Jan. 4/1 The ‘leaflet campaign’ of the Cobden Club.
1920 J. J. Mereto Red Conspiracy xxii. 344 The leaflet campaign of the Socialists has long since reached alarming proportions.
1970 Guardian 30 Sept. 20/4 Callaghan..launched a fund-raising leaflet campaign called ‘Fight’.
2003 Eastern Daily Press (Norwich) (Nexis) 29 Aug. A leaflet campaign is being launched to help reduce the number of mobile phones being stolen.
leaflet drop n. (originally) = leaflet raid n.; (now also more generally) an act of distributing leaflets in large numbers to the people in a particular place or area.
ΘΚΠ
society > communication > information > publishing or spreading abroad > publishing or spreading by leaflets or notices > [noun] > leafleting
leaflet campaign1885
leaflet raid1933
leaflet drop1945
leafleting1945
1945 Psychol. Warfare Div. 161 Requests from divisions and corps for leaflet drops by fighter bombers.
1969 Listener 31 July 145/2 We would send our lecturers out into the fringes of the jungle to soften people up, we would have special leaflet drops before the troops went in.
1971 Financial Times 5 Aug. 13/3 Shell is not advertising its promotion, but pinning its faith on a leaflet drop to 16.5m. homes.
1992 Independent 26 Sept. 33/4 One common method is promotions, often centred round one-page newspaper advertisements, in-store leaflet drops, and special display cards in supermarket aisles.
2003 Daily Star 3 Apr. 6/1 British forces launched a hearts and minds campaign with leaflet drops.
2013 Irish News (Nexis) 14 Sept. 10 Organisers of the leaflet drop say it was designed to encourage social security workers not to co-operate with any cuts introduced through the controversial bill.
leaflet raid n. an air raid in which propaganda leaflets are dropped over enemy territory; also in extended use.
ΘΚΠ
society > communication > information > publishing or spreading abroad > publishing or spreading by leaflets or notices > [noun] > leafleting
leaflet campaign1885
leaflet raid1933
leaflet drop1945
leafleting1945
1933 Rhinelander (Wisconsin) Daily News 8 Aug. 1/7 Assurance of Germany that leaflet raids will stop.
1940 T. H. Harrisson & C. H. Madge War begins at Home vii. 148 The first leaflet raid—in which the R.A.F. dropped 6,000,000 leaflets over Germany.
1974 Times 13 Nov. 2/6 Miners from the Nottinghamshire coalfield..made leaflet raids to pits in South Yorkshire.
2003 Daily Mail (Nexis) 25 Mar. 12 A significant proportion of the Iraqi armed forces have not—so far—fallen apart, despite all the broadcasts, leaflet raids and other psychological pressures.
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, September 2016; most recently modified version published online June 2022).
leafletv.
/ˈliːflᵻt/, U.S. /ˈliflᵻt/ΚΠ
1898 Rep. 25th Ann. Meeting National Woman's Christian Temperance Union 276 ‘The Two Wine Theory’..was leafleted by the National Superintendent at the W.T.P.A., and the first thousand distributed to Superintendents.
1918 Daily Gleaner (Kingston, Jamaica) 27 Mar. 5/4 This series commenced in your issue last Saturday will, I hope, be ‘leafleted’.
2.
a. intransitive. To distribute leaflets. Cf. earlier leafleting n.
ΘΚΠ
society > communication > information > publishing or spreading abroad > publishing or spreading by leaflets or notices > [verb (intransitive)] > leaflet
leaflet1962
1962 Enterprise Weekly (Concord) 6 Sept. 3/2 Mrs Boardman has leafleted at the gates of American Optical.
1973 C. Mullard Black Brit. i. iii. 33 The new group were people willing to leaflet, organize and demonstrate.
2004 Independent 10 Mar. (Review section) 6/3 I didn't have any social life. I spent my entire time leafleting, postering, complaining about blacks and Jews.
b. transitive. To distribute leaflets to (people, esp. the people in a particular place or area).
ΘΚΠ
society > communication > information > publishing or spreading abroad > publishing or spreading by leaflets or notices > [verb (transitive)] > leaflet
leaflet1965
1965 P. Arrowsmith Jericho xiii. 133 Today..was her unique opportunity for leafleting the canteen.
1973 Daily Tel. 9 June 2/8 Our friends in Germany and elsewhere will be encouraged to leaflet British soldiers stationed there.
1998 Earth Matters Autumn 16/2 Campaigners from Friends of the Earth and other organisations have leafleted supermarkets..and launched letter-writing campaigns.
2013 City Teacher (City of Leicester Teachers' Assoc.) Sept. 3/1 Staff from the school were busy over the summer leafleting the local area.
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, September 2016; most recently modified version published online March 2022).
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n.1777
v.1898