Definitions
from The Century Dictionary.
- noun Same as
furcula , 1.
from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.
- noun (Anat.) The wishbone or merrythought of birds, formed by the united clavicles.
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.
- noun anatomy The
wishbone ormerrythought ofbirds , formed by the unitedclavicles .
Etymologies
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License
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Examples
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They lack true eyes, do not possess wings and have, protruding from their abdomens, a "spring tail," called a furculum, (after the Latin word for fork) which is held in place by two tiny hooks.
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They lack true eyes, do not possess wings and have, protruding from their abdomens, a "spring tail," called a furculum, (after the Latin word for fork) which is held in place by two tiny hooks.
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The reason for this is that the natural neck, being carried between the clavicles forming the furculum or "merry-thought," is bent downward and forward between them when perching (see Fig. 22); hence the artificial neck must imitate nature so far as that, when inserted in the skin, it may be also bent forward and downward, and afterwards thrown back on the body in a natural position.
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The furculum, pelvis, and bones of the tail are in their natural position.
The Antiquity of Man Charles Lyell 1836
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The furculum, or merry-thought, which is entire, marks the fore part of the trunk; the ischium, scapula, and most of the wing and leg bones are preserved, and there are impressions of the quill feathers and of down on the body.
The Antiquity of Man Charles Lyell 1836
mollusque commented on the word furculum
The wishbone.
December 21, 2007
reesetee commented on the word furculum
Great word, mollusque. While I was reading about it, I discovered it's also called a merrythought (a British term), which I'd never heard before. Dictionary says: "Origin: 1600–10; so called from the custom of pulling the bone apart until it breaks, the person holding the longer (sometimes shorter) piece supposedly marrying first or being granted a wish at the time."
December 21, 2007