Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • noun A forked part or bone, such as the wishbone of a bird.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • noun In ornithology, the united pair of clavicles of a bird, forming a single forked bone, whence the name.
  • noun In entomology, a forked process: specifically applied to a long bifid process on the bodies of certain caterpillars. See furciferous, 1.
  • noun In embryology, a forked median protuberance arising in the floor of the embryonic pharynx between the third and fourth pairs of visceral arches. It develops into the epiglottis of the adult.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • noun (Anat.) A forked process; the wishbone or furculum.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • noun anatomy A forked process or structure, generally two-pronged.
  • noun ornithology The forked bone formed by the fusion of the clavicles in birds, the wishbone or merrythought.
  • noun entomology The (two-pronged,) forked, somewhat tail-like organ held bent forward and secured by a catch beneath most species of Collembola (springtails), with which they jump by releasing the catch abruptly when alarmed.

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • noun a forked bone formed by the fusion of the clavicles of most birds

Etymologies

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition

[Latin, diminutive of furca, fork.]

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Examples

  • In a barb, which in all its measurements was a little larger than the same rock-pigeon, the furcula was a quarter of an inch shorter.

    The Variation of Animals and Plants Under Domestication, Vol. I. Charles Darwin 1845

  • These arthropods have a fork-like structure (called furcula) at the hind end that is hooked under their abdomen.

    Durangoherald.com 2010

  • These arthropods have a fork-like structure (called furcula) at the hind end that is hooked under their abdomen.

    Durangoherald.com 2010

  • These arthropods have a fork-like structure (called furcula) at the hind end that is hooked under their abdomen.

    Durangoherald.com 2010

  • The wishbone, called a furcula, is the fusion of two collarbones at the sternum.

    Livescience.com 2009

  • - Snow fleas, like all springtails, have an unusual appendage (a furcula) that folds under the abdomen and can be used to suddenly propel the insects several inches.

    Rich Wolf: Boulder's Heart-Warming Fleas 2010

  • I took 2 photos of it before it deployed its furcula and disappeared into thin air.

    Springtail before it sprung away AYDIN 2007

  • I took 2 photos of it before it deployed its furcula and disappeared into thin air.

    Archive 2007-01-01 AYDIN 2007

  • But Archaeopteryx was very likely capable of powered fligh sic judging from its relatively massive furcula and the asymmetric rachis of its primary flight feathers Feduccia and Tordoff 1979; Olson and Feduccia 1979.

    Experts in creationism trials -- Shallit be? - The Panda's Thumb 2005

  • Mucrones: in Collembola the two small end pieces of the furcula, proceeding from the dentes.

    Explanation of Terms Used in Entomology John. B. Smith

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