Category:Dactyl

Dac"tyl, n. Etym: [L. dactylus, Gr. Digit.]

1. (Pros.)

Defn: A poetical foot of three sylables (-- ~ ~), one long followed by two short, or one accented followed by two unaccented; as, L. tëgmînê, E. mer"ciful; -- so called from the similarity of its arrangement to that of the joints of a finger. [Written also dactyle.]

2. (Zoöl.) (a) A finger or toe; a digit. (b) The claw or terminal joint of a leg of an insect or crustacean.