Definitions
from The Century Dictionary.
- noun The movable joint of the forceps of the lobster, crawfish, or crab; a dactylopodite.
- noun In anatomy, the innermost digit of the hand or foot, when there are five; the thumb or the great toe, especially the thumb, the great toe being usually distinguished as pollex pedis, or hallux.
- noun In zoology: The innermost digit of the fore limb only, when there are five; the digit that corresponds to the human thumb.
- noun The thumb of a bird; the short digit bearing the alula or bastard wing, regarded as homologous with either the human thumb or the forefinger.
from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.
- noun (Anat.) The first, or preaxial, digit of the fore limb, corresponding to the hallux in the hind limb; the thumb. In birds, the pollex is the joint which bears the bastard wing.
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.
- noun The
first , orpreaxial ,digit of theforelimb , corresponding to thehallux in thehind limb ; thethumb . In birds, the pollex is thejoint which bears thebastard wing .
from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.
- noun the thick short innermost digit of the forelimb
Etymologies
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition
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Examples
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In forms with large pollex claws (like diplodocoids), the anatomy of the penultimate phalanx and the distal end of the first metacarpal indicates that some flexion and extension of the claw was possible: in other words, these sauropods could both lift and lower their claws (albeit not by much compared to what was possible in other dinosaurs).
Archive 2006-04-01 Darren Naish 2006
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Kopidodon macrognathus, bat Archaeonycteris pollex, and a large rodent Ailuravus macrurus have also been identified.
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I,ve just started playing, enjoyed it but got fed up when they made a mistake, pollex for thumb instead of pollux. on July 3, 2008 at 4:04 am | Reply Rajesh
FreeRice.com: Gather, all ye word whores « The Life and Times of Organic Mama 2007
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This digit is called the ‘pollex,’ or thumb; and, like the others, it bears
Essays 2007
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The word “thumb” in Latin is pollex meaning “the strong one”.
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The word “thumb” in Latin is pollex meaning “the strong one”.
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Quorundam corpore partes nascuntur ad aliqua mirabiles sicut Pyrrho regi pollex in dextero pede: cuius tactu lienosis medebatur.
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Quorundam corpore partes nascuntur ad aliqua mirabiles sicut Pyrrho regi pollex in dextero pede: cuius tactu lienosis medebatur.
The Principal Navigations, Voyages, Traffiques and Discoveries of the English Nation 2003
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K, pollex (first digit, or "'thumb"); K2 and K3 second or "index" digit, and next or third digit;
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In the forefoot all the digits except the pollex, or first, were well developed.
A History of Science: in Five Volumes. Volume III: Modern development of the physical sciences 1904
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