[f. LEAF sb. + -LET.] A small leaf.
1. † a. Bot. A sepal. Obs. b. Bot. One of the divisions of a compound leaf. c. popularly. A young leaf; rarely, a petal.
1787. Fam. Plants, I. 153. Perianth five-leaved: the leaflets lanced, equal, permanent.
1811. A. T. Thomson, Lond. Disp. (1818), 404. The leaves are … pinnate, with a terminal leaflet a little larger than the rest.
1839. 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. ‘Marion Harland,’ Alone, xxviii. The willow leaflets were just putting out.
1855. Lynch, Rivulet, XLIV. iv. When Their [blossoms’] colour fades, their leaflets dry.
1872. Oliver, Elem. Bot., I. vii. 76. Compound leaves … having the blade divided into leaflets.
1896. Allbutt’s Syst. Med., I. 340. A decoction of aromatic plants, such as lavender or fresh pine leaflets.
2. Phys. and Zool. An organ or part of an organ resembling a small leaf.
1826. Kirby & Sp., Entomol., III. 392. Foliola (the Leaflets). Rigid … leaf-like anal organs.
1835–6. Todd, Cycl. Anat., I. 695/1. Respiration is effected by means of four branchial leaflets … arranged on either side of the body.
3. A small-sized leaf of paper or a sheet folded into two or more leaves but not stitched, and containing printed matter, chiefly for gratuitous distribution.
1867. Miss Broughton, Cometh up as Flower, xv. (1878), 153. 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.
1888. Jacobi, Printers’ Voc., Leaflets, jobs printed on single leaves, either one or both sides.
