culets

Noun

culet (plural culets)

1. (historical) A component of armor, consisting of overlapping plates designed to protect the buttocks.
   • The Turk prosecuted his advantage to the uttermost of his power; yet the other[…]not onely avoided the Turkes violence, but having drawne his Faulchion, pierced the Turke so under the Culets thorow backe and body, that although he alighted from his horse, he stood not long ere hee lost his head, as...1630, John Smith, True travels, Kupperman, published 1988, page 49

   Synonyms:

   garde de rein, hoguine

2. A small, flat face often cut at the base of a brilliant-cut gemstone.
   • The common diamond cut for high pressure work is the modified brilliant cut (see Fig. 1) in which the point of a brilliant cut diamond (i.e., the type of diamond commonly found in an engagement ring) is lopped off to provide a flat surface, called a culet, for pressure transmission. Two opposed...1999, John W. Kenney, III, 7. Pressure Effects on Emissive Materials, D. Max Roundhill, John P. Fackler Jr. (editors), Optoelectronic Properties of Inorganic Compounds, Plenum Press, page 234