crow's-foot

American  

[krohz-foot] / ˈkroʊzˌfʊt /

noun

crow's-feet plural

1. Usually crow's-feet. any of the tiny wrinkles at the outer corners of the eyes resulting from age or constant squinting.

2. Aeronautics. an arrangement of ropes in which one main rope exerts pull at several points simultaneously through a group of smaller ropes, as in balloon or airship rigging.

3. (in tailoring) a three-pointed embroidered design used as a finish, as at the end of a seam or opening.

4. crowfoot.

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crow's-foot British  

noun

1. (often plural) a wrinkle at the outer corner of the eye

2. an embroidery stitch with three points, used esp as a finishing at the end of a seam

3. a system of diverging short ropes to distribute the pull of a single rope, used esp in balloon and airship riggings

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Other Word Forms

Noun Inflected Forms

• crow's-feet
  plural

Etymology

Origin of crow's-foot

1350–1400; Middle English; so called because likened to a crow's foot or footprint

Example Sentences

Annabeth ran her hand along some marks on the ground - a jagged crow’s-foot shape as long as a human body.

From "Blood of Olympus" by Rick Riordan

The iron pipe of the chandelier or wall bracket is then screwed home in this crow's-foot.

From Electricity for the farm Light, heat and power by inexpensive methods from the water wheel or farm engine by Anderson, Frederick Irving

There is the crow's-foot violet, which grows in dry places and is a deep purple; also a little purple violet whose name I do not know.

From Harper's Round Table, June 25, 1895 by Various

She thrust her face close to the glass to see whether some long-remembered wrinkle or crow's-foot had indeed vanished.

From The Great English Short-Story Writers, Volume 1 by Defoe, Daniel

Look at them, you miserable old procrastinators, and then kneel down before the ancient damsels you have sneered at, even if they have the pelican gout and a crow’s-foot at the corners of their eyes!

From Captain Brand of the "Centipede" A Pirate of Eminence in the West Indies: His Love and Exploits, Together with Some Account of the Singular Manner by Which He Departed This Life by Wise, H. A. (Henry Augustus)