pectoral girdle
Americannoun
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(in vertebrates) a bony or cartilaginous arch supporting the forelimbs.
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Also called shoulder girdle. (in humans) the bony arch formed by the clavicles, or collarbones, and scapulas, or shoulder blades.
noun
Etymology
Origin of pectoral girdle
First recorded in 1885–90
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.
Known placoderms have at most five gill arches, others having evolved into jaws and the hyoid, so the pectoral girdle derives from what was once the sixth gill arch, Brazeau’s team concludes.
From Science Magazine ● Nov. 1, 2023
Fast forward 100 million years, and fish called placoderms swam the seas, with jaws and a primitive “shoulder” or pectoral girdle supporting paired front fins.
From Science Magazine ● Nov. 1, 2023
At first, the pectoral girdle enabled gill-lifting muscles to better open the mouth, leading to the evolution of diverse fish feeding systems, Brazeau says.
From Science Magazine ● Nov. 1, 2023
In addition, the clavicle of each pectoral girdle is anchored to the axial skeleton by a single, highly mobile joint.
From Textbooks ● Jun. 19, 2013
Apparently, then, there is not sufficient reason to infer that this Jurassic frog had a pectoral girdle comparable with the modern firmisternal type.
From The Ancestry of Modern Amphibia: A Review of the Evidence by Eaton, Theodore H. (Theodore Hildreth)
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
