chela

plural chelae

1. A pincer-like claw of a crustacean or arachnid.

   It happeneth often, I confess, that a lobster hath the chely or great claw of one side longer than the other […]

   1646, Thomas Browne, chapter III, in Pseudodoxia Epidemica: […], London: […] T[homas] H[arper] for Edward Dod, […], →OCLC, 1st book, page 5

   2 more examples

   The tail is curved up over the body and the pedipalps held forwards with the tip of the movable finger of the chela in contact with the sand.

   1993, The Encyclopedia of Land Invertebrate Behaviour, page 232

   The two brushes on each chela snap open into semicircular fans, forming fine-mesh baskets that passively filter water.

   2004, Raymond T. Bauer, Remarkable Shrimps: Adaptations and Natural History of the Carideans, page 26

plural chelas · plural chele

1. A pupil or disciple, especially in Hinduism.

   In fact, Gilgamesh's instructions are still-valid directions from the guru to the chela.

   1981, William Irwin Thompson, The Time Falling Bodies Take to Light: Mythology, Sexuality and the Origins of Culture, London: Rider/Hutchinson & Co., page 184

   4 more examples

   Nay, I had a disciple with me. He that was my friend at the Temple of the Tirthankers gave me a chela for this journey.

   1901, Rudyard Kipling, Kim

   The guru had insight. He understood his chela. The relationship between a guru and his chela was as a father to a son, as a whole person to a whole person, individual and unique.

   1987, Phirozshah Dorabji Mehta, The Heart of Religion, page 36

   The guru-chela relationship was a theme in many of Nicholas's paintings. In Pearl of Searching, the guru is looking thoughtfully at a pearl necklace with his chela. This symbolizes the "pearl of great price" that gives purpose to life.

   2002, Warrior of Light: The Life of Nicholas Roerich: Artist, Himalayan Explorer, and Visionary, page 52

   This, of course, is done by the guru as the result of a long process in which his consciousness must merge with that of the chela and wherein the chela is absorbed essentially into the guru.

   2007, Michael Bertiaux, The Voudon Gnostic Workbook: Expanded Edition, page 455