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metatarsus

American  
[met-uh-tahr-suhs] / ˌmɛt əˈtɑr səs /

noun

Anatomy, Zoology.
  • metatarsi
    plural
  1. the part of a foot or hind limb, especially its bony structure, included between the tarsus and the toes or phalanges.


metatarsus British  
/ ˌmɛtəˈtɑːsəs /

noun

  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

Other Word Forms

Noun Inflected Forms


Etymology

Origin of metatarsus

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


Example Sentences

Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.

See Examples For:

Tuberculous disease in the tarsus, metatarsus, and phalanges has been considered in the chapter on Diseases of Bone.

From Manual of Surgery Volume Second: Extremities—Head—Neck. Sixth Edition. by Alexander Miles

The bones of the metatarsus and the phalanges are equal in number to the corresponding bones in the anterior limbs; they are formed on a type analogous to that of these latter.

From Artistic Anatomy of Animals by ?douard Cuyer

Of small size, slightly higher at the croup than at the shoulders; short tail; large pits in hind feet; no groin-pits; no tuft on the metatarsus.

From Natural History of the Mammalia of India and Ceylon by Robert Armitage Sterndale

The bones of the right metatarsus show as they would under the flesh of a queenly foot.

From The Atlantic Monthly, Volume 15, No. 88, February, 1865 by Various

The articulations of the bones of the tarsus, and of these with the metatarsus, do not offer any interest with regard to mobility, this being almost wholly absent at that level.

From Artistic Anatomy of Animals by ?douard Cuyer

Cephalothorax, legs, sternum, mandibles, and palpi whitish; tarsi, and sometimes metatarsi, slightly infuscated; sternum sometimes more yellowish, no markings.

From New West Indian Spiders Bulletin of the AMNH, Vol. XXXIII, Art. XLI, pp. 639-642 by Nathan Banks

Male: Cephalothorax, palpi, sternum, and most of legs yellowish; abdomen dark brown; metatarsi dark, tibiæ infuscated; mandibles reddish brown; tips of male palpi dark.

From New West Indian Spiders Bulletin of the AMNH, Vol. XXXIII, Art. XLI, pp. 639-642 by Nathan Banks

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