scansorial
Americanadjective
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capable of or adapted for climbing, as the feet of certain birds, lizards, etc.
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habitually climbing, as a woodpecker.
adjective
Etymology
Origin of scansorial
1800–10; < Latin scānsōri ( us ) for climbing ( scand ( ere ) to climb ( see scan) + -tōrius -tory 1, with dt > s ) + -al 1
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.
The South American tropics are dominated by the mostly terrestrial teiioids and mostly scansorial and arboreal iguanians.
From Scientific American ● Apr. 1, 2013
Feet scansorial, versatile; the outer toe long, and connected by the first joints to the inner toe.
From Zoological Illustrations, Volume II or Original Figures and Descriptions of New, Rare, or Interesting Animals by William Swainson
The foot of the parrot is formed for climbing, being, as Linnæus would say, scansorial, that is, with two toes forwards and two backwards.
From Mamma's Stories about Birds by Mary Elizabeth Southwell Dudley Leathley
As implied above the brush mouse is adapted for a scansorial mode of life; but other mice and rats inhabit the rocky crevices of low bluffs.
From Natural History of the Brush Mouse (Peromyscus boylii) in Kansas With Description of a New Subspecies by Charles A. Long
He goes on to add: "The anterior limbs are decidedly fossorial, and the hinder suited for walking in a sub-plantigrade manner; both wholly unfitted for rapatory or scansorial purposes."
From Natural History of the Mammalia of India and Ceylon by Robert Armitage Sterndale
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.
