huckle-bone
(ˈhʌk(ə)lbəʊn)
[See huckle n.]
1. The hip- or haunch-bone of man or beast; the ischium or whole os innominatum. (Rarely the head of the thigh-bone which turns in the hip-joint.)
| 1529 Malory's Arthur xii. iii. (W. de W.), The bore roue hym on the brawne of the thyghe vp to the huckle bone [ed. 1485 hough-bone]. 1545 T. Raynalde Byrth Mankynde (1564) 44 The knitting togeather of the hocle bone with the lowest turning ioynt of the loynes. 1547 Boorde Brev. Health cccxv. 102 b, This infirmitie [Sciatica] doth come of hard lyenge on the hokyll bones. 1565–73 Cooper Thesaurus, Acetabula,..the hollownesse wherein the huckle bone turneth. 1580 Hollyband Treas. Fr. Tong, La boiste de os, the pan wherein the huckle bone falleth. 1615 Crooke Body of Man 807 The Thigh is that part which is betwixt the ioynt of the huckle bone and the knee. 1676 Hobbes Iliad (1677) 67 Tydides..hit him on the huckle bone, wherein Into the hip inserted is the thigh. a 1722 Lisle Husb. (1752) 264 A beast should be wide between both huckle bones. 1846 J. Baxter Libr. Pract. Agric. (ed. 4) II. 90 The hip or huckle bones should be wide apart, coming upon a level with the chine. |
2. The astragalus or small bone which joints with the tibia, in the hock joint of a quadruped; the knuckle-bone.
| 1542 Udall Erasm. Apoph. 163 b, ἀστράγαλος is in Latin talus, and it is the little square huccle bone in the ancle place of the hinder legge in all beastes, sauing man. 1613 T. Godwin Rom. Antiq. (1625) 113 Talus, an huckle-bone, such wherewith children play Cockall. 1652 A. Ross Hist. World i. ii. 6 The King presents him with some golden dice, or huckle bones to play withall. 1871 Tylor Prim. Cult. I. 74 Hucklebones or astragali were used in divination in ancient Rome. 1877 N.W. Linc. Gl., Huckle-bone, the astragalus, a small bone of a sheep, used for playing a game called..‘dibs’. The floors of summer⁓houses used frequently to be paved with huckle-bones. |
Hence huckle-boned a. [see -ed2].
| 1683 Lond. Gaz. No. 1850/8 A black Gelding..high Huckle-bon'd. |