Definitions
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.
- noun The section of the vertebrate foot between the leg and the metatarsus.
- noun The bones making up this section, especially the seven small bones of the human ankle.
- noun A fibrous plate that supports and shapes the edge of the eyelid.
- noun The tarsometatarsus.
- noun The distal part of the leg of an arthropod, usually divided into segments.
from The Century Dictionary.
- noun In zoology and anatomy, the proximal segment of the pes or foot, corresponding to the carpus of the manus or hand; the collection of bones between the tibia and the metatarsus, entering into the construction of the ankle-joint, and into that part of the foot known in man as the instep.
- noun Hence In descriptive ornith., the shank; the part of the leg (properly of the foot) of a bird which extends from the bases of the toes to the first joint above, the principal bone of this section consisting of three metatarsal bones fused together and with distal tarsal bones. See cuts under booted, scutellate, and tarsometatarsus.
- noun In entomology: The foot; the terminal segment of any leg, next to and beyond the tibia, consisting of a variable number of joints, usually five, and ending sometimes in a pair of claws like pincers, or in a suckerlike pad, or otherwise.
- noun The last joint of a spider's leg, forming, with the preceding joint, or metatarsus, the foot.
- noun The small plate of condensed connective tissue along the free border of the upper and lower eyelid. It is burrowed by the Meibomian glands. Also called
tarsal cartilage . - noun See the adjectives.
from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.
- noun The ankle; the bones or cartilages of the part of the foot between the metatarsus and the leg, consisting in man of seven short bones.
- noun A plate of dense connective tissue or cartilage in the eyelid of man and many animals; -- called also
tarsal cartilage , andtarsal plate . - noun (Zoöl.) The foot of an insect or a crustacean. It usually consists of form two to five joints.
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.
- noun anatomy The part of the foot between the
tibia andfibula and themetatarsus . - noun anatomy Any of the seven bones in this part of the foot.
- noun anatomy The superior or inferior tarsal muscle of the eyelid, responsible for sympathetic control of the eyelid.
- noun zoology In insects and other arthropods, any of a series of
articulations in the true foot; the last joint forming the foot inspiders .
from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.
- noun the part of the foot of a vertebrate between the metatarsus and the leg; in human beings the bones of the ankle and heel collectively
Etymologies
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License
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Examples
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The tarsus is a true hinge joint and because of the great strain which it sustains, is subject to frequent injury.
Lameness of the Horse Veterinary Practitioners' Series, No. 1 John Victor Lacroix
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The long bone referred to -- called the tarsus -- corresponds to the instep of the human foot, that is, the foot proper, while the joint which extends backward, forming an angle with the next large bone, is really the bird's heel.
Our Bird Comrades 1896
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At its lower end the tibia forms what is known as the ankle joint by articulating with the next long bone, which is commonly called the tarsus, although the proper name would be really metatarsus.
Our Bird Comrades 1896
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All the rest of the leg, made of several short segments, we will call the tarsus, and we will mark it V.
The Insect Folk Margaret Warner Morley 1890
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But the most striking contrast between the two lies in the bones of the leg and of that part of the foot termed the tarsus, which follows upon the leg.
Lectures and Essays Thomas Henry Huxley 1860
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But the most striking contrast between the two lies in the bones of the leg and of that part of the foot termed the tarsus, which follows upon the leg.
Lectures on Evolution Thomas Henry Huxley 1860
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But the most striking contrast between the two lies in the bones of the leg and of that part of the foot termed the tarsus, which follows upon the leg.
American Addresses, with a Lecture on the Study of Biology Thomas Henry Huxley 1860
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You know, in some human worlds, they'd call your tarsus a cankle!
Cute Overload 2009
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But if any bone be moved from its place, or a joint of the toes be luxated, or any of the bones of the part called the tarsus be displaced, it must be forced back again to its place as described with regard to the hand; and is to be treated with cerate, compresses, and bandages, like the fractures, with the exception of the splints; and is to be secured tightly in the same way, and the bandages renewed on the third day; and the patient thus bandaged should return the same answers as in fractures, as to the bandages feeling tight or slack.
On Fractures 2007
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This term is applied to an affection of the tarsus which is usually characterized by the existence of an exostosis on the mesial and inferior portion of the hock.
Lameness of the Horse Veterinary Practitioners' Series, No. 1 John Victor Lacroix
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