Definition of "aigrette" []

• An ornamental tuft of upright plumes, especially the tail feathers of an egret. (noun)
• An ornament, such as a spray of gems, resembling a tuft of plumes. (noun)

American Heritage(R) Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright (c) 2011 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

• "The aigrette, which is a sort of artificial plume, or feather, represents a hand with thirteen fingers, covered with diamonds; allusive to the thirteen ships taken and destroyed by the hero: and it's size is that of a child's hand, at the age of five or six years, when open."
• "-- These unfortunate birds, cursed for all time by the commercially valuable "aigrette" plumes that they bear, have had a very narrow escape from total extinction in the United States, despite all the efforts made to save them."
• "Cruelty of "aigrette" hunters of albatross killers"