Bractea, bracteæ, pen. cor. Virg.Goldefoyle: or thinne leanes or rayes of golde, filuer, or other mettall.Bracteæ ligni. Plin. Chippes, or thinne picces of woode.Tenuis bractea.Ouid.Bractearius. Bud. A golde beater: a geldlayer: or guilter.
Lewis and Short: Latin dictionary
bractĕa (also brattĕa), ae, f. [perh. kindr. with bra/xw, to rattle], a thin plate of metal, gold-leaf (thicker plates of metal are called laminae; cf. Isid. Orig. 16, 18, 2: bractea dicitur tenuissima lamina): aranea bratteaque auri, Lucr. 4, 729: leni crepitabat brattea vento, Verg. A. 6, 209: inspice, quam tenuis bractea ligna tegat, Ov. A. A. 3, 232; Mart. 8, 33, 6; Plin. 33, 3, 19, 61; cf. argenteae, id. 37, 7, 31, 105.—B.Poet.: viva,
