[f. prec. + -AGE: cf. equipage; also apanage (in 17th c. appennage), by which the sense was perhaps influenced.] That which is attached as if by being hung on; a subsidiary external adjunct, addition, or accompaniment, which does not form an essential part of that to which it is added, but is usually natural or appropriate to it. (Cf. APPENDIX.)
1. of things material. a. generally.
1713. Derham, Phys. Theol., IV. xii. 214. Clothing, another necessary Appendage of Life.
1790. Beatson, Nav. & Mil. Mem., II. 30. An army, with all its necessary appendages.
1854. Brewster, More Worlds, iv. 76. The planet Saturn, encompassed with the extraordinary appendage of a ring.
esp. b. An addition to territory or property. Cf. APANAGE 3, APPENDANT B. 1.
1667. E. Chamberlayne, St. Gt. Brit., I. I. iii. (1743), 15. Two of their [the Cinque-Ports’] appendages, Winchelsea and Rye, are in Sussex.
1796. Morse, Amer. Geog., I. 783. The other islands … should be regarded as appendages to Curassou.
1876. Digby, Real Prop., i. § 1. 7. Dwelling-houses and their appendages.
† c. An addition in writing: an APPENDIX. Obs.
1651. Hobbes, Govt. & Soc., Ded. That Appendage which is added concerning the Regiment of God.
d. Nat. Hist. A subordinate or subsidiary organ.
1785. J. E. Smith, in Leis. Hour, June, 1883, 353/1. The angular appendage to the nose of the American bat.
1870. H. Macmillan, Bible Teach., vii. 135. All the appendages borne on the stem—such as scales, leaves, bracts, flowers, and fruit.
1874. Carpenter, Ment. Phys., I. ii. § 59. Antennae and other appendages used for feeling.
2. of things immaterial.
1649. Jer. Taylor, Gt. Exemp., xvii. § 5. If the pious action have been formerly joined with anything … truly criminal … I give cause … to think I approve of the old appendage.
1673. Cave, Prim. Chr., I. x. 327. Confirmation which ever was a constant appendage to Baptism.
1763. J. Brown, Poetry & Mus., § 4. 40. The Dance or Action of their Song-Feasts, being only secondary, and merely an Appendage to the Song.
1848. Mariotti, Italy Past & Pr., I. 8. Religion and gallantry soon made humanity an indispensable appendage of true valour.
3. transf. of persons.
1838. Eliza Cook, Melaia, xxv. That rare appendage to a king, A friend that never played the slave.
1858. Doran, Court Fools, 121. Such an official was not an uncommon appendage to legations.
