Definitions

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

  • noun A bandage applied in overlapping opposite spirals to immobilize a digit or limb.

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

  • noun A kind of bandage passing, by successive turns and crosses, from an extremity to the trunk.

Etymologies

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

[Latin spīca, ear of grain (from its shape).]

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Examples

  • The ear of wheat (in Latin spica, obsoletely speca, from spe, hope) should not be the only hope of the husbandman; its kernel or grain (granum from gerendo, bearing) is not all that it bears.

    Walden

  • The ear of wheat, (in Latin spica, obsoletely speca, from spe, hope,) should not be the only hope of the husbandman; its kernel or grain (ranum, from erendo, bearing,) is not all that it bears.

    Walden, or Life in the woods

  • The ear of wheat (in Latin spica, obsoletely speca, from spe, hope) should not be the only hope of the husbandman; its kernel or grain (granum from gerendo, bearing) is not all that it bears.

    Walden~ Chapter 07 (historical)

  • The figure-of-eight bandage is used on various parts, and is illustrated in the bandage called spica of the groin, Fig. IV, p. 132.

    The Home Medical Library, Volume I (of VI)

  • \ "If successful, a special cast (called a spica cast) is put on the baby to hold the hip in place.

    Recently Uploaded Slideshows

  • A thumb spica splint stabilizes the thumb outside of the palm so that the child can concentrate on moving his/her finger to pick up objects.

    Hand Splinting

  • A thumb spica splint is recommended to allow a child to have a more successful and functional grasp.

    Hand Splinting

  • A thumb spica splint can be made like the resting hand splint or the weightbearing splint with a hard plastic material or it can be ordered in a soft neoprene material.

    Hand Splinting

  • There was one family in there with a toddler in a spica cast—poor kid—looking at the penguins in their fake formal wear.

    Handle with Care

  • Ambulance trips were not covered by our policy; however, the hospital in Florida would not discharge anyone in a spica cast unless he or she was traveling by ambulance.

    Handle with Care

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