Emily Dickinson Lexicon

AM'ENT, or A-MENT'UM, n. [L. amentum, a thong, or strap.]

1. In botany, a species of inflorescence, consisting of many scales, ranged along a stalk or slender axis, which is the common receptacle; as in birch, oak, chestnut. – Martyn.
2. A spike, the bracts of which are all of equal size, closely imbricated, and which is articulated with the stem. – Lindley.