metatarsus

[ met-uh-tahr-suhs ]

noun,plural met·a·tar·si [met-uh-tahr-sahy]. /ˌmɛt əˈtɑr saɪ/. Anatomy, Zoology.
  1. the part of a foot or hind limb, especially its bony structure, included between the tarsus and the toes or phalanges.

Origin of metatarsus

1
From New Latin, dating back to 1670–80; see origin at meta-, tarsus

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2024

How to use metatarsus in a sentence

  • The bones on which this species is founded are a pair of ulnae, one radius, four metatarsi, and one coracoid.

    Extinct Birds | Walter Rothschild
  • Messrs. Newton and Gadow describe this species from four metatarsi, three tibiae, and two humeri.

    Extinct Birds | Walter Rothschild
  • Coxa I with two spines; metatarsi without stout spurs at tips, only slender hairs.

    Handbook of Medical Entomology | William Albert Riley
  • The hind metatarsi are curved in at the calamistrum (fig. 499).

  • The two tarso-metatarsi are in poor condition; the right one measuring 42 mm.

    Extinct Birds | Walter Rothschild

British Dictionary definitions for metatarsus

metatarsus

/ (ˌmɛtəˈtɑːsəs) /


nounplural -si (-saɪ)
  1. the skeleton of the human foot between the toes and the tarsus, consisting of five long bones

  2. the corresponding skeletal part in other vertebrates

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012