Amento, amentas, amentare. Lucan. To fallen a loope or thong vnto.
Amentum, amenti, n. g. Plin. A thonge, or that which is bounden to the middes of a darte to throwe it: a stroope or loope. Also an oke apple, or round thing growing on an oken leafe.
Lewis and Short: Latin dictionary
āmento, āvi, ātum, 1, v. a. [amentum]. I.Lit., to furnish with a strap or thong; esp. of the javelin, to the middle of which a strap was fastened, so that it might be thrown with greater force (very rare; only twice in Cic.): hastae amentatae, Cic. Brut. 78, 271.—Trop., of discourse: amentatae hastae (i. e. apta et parata argumenta), Cic. de Or. 1, 57, 242 (so Juv. sagittae and jaculator, q. v.).—Hence, II.Transf., poet., to hurl or dart the javelin by means of a thong: cum jaculum parvā Libysamentavit habenā, Luc. 6, 221.—And of the wind, which gives an impetus to motion, as a thong to the dart: amentante Noto, Sil. 14, 422.
āmentum, i, n. [a(/mma, a(/ptw; v. apo], a strap or thong, esp. upon missile weapons, by means of which they were thrown with greater force (cf. amento): amenta, quibus, ut mitti possint, vinciuntur jacula sive solearum lora, Paul. ex Fest. p. 12 Müll.: epistola ad amentum deligata, Caes. B. G. 5, 48 Herz.: inserit amento digitos, Ov. M. 12, 321: amenta torquent, Verg. A. 9, 665: umor jaculorum amenta emollierat, Liv. 37, 41 al.—Rarely, a shoe-string: soleae sine amento, Plin. 34, 6, 14, 31.