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.

---

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

---

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

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

From English Prose A Series of Related Essays for the Discussion and Practice by Roe, Frederick William

I crossed a crow's-foot of street-car tracks, and skirted the edge of an umbrageous park.

From The Voice of the City: Further Stories of the Four Million by Henry, O.

The crow's-foot wrinkles about his eyes deepened to a frown of inquiry.

From The Street Called Straight by Lowell, Orson

On the cricket pitch, a bare hundred yards away from the river bank, is a plentiful crop of dandelions, crow's-foot, clover, and, worst of all, enormous plantains.

From A Cotswold Village by Gibbs, J. Arthur