‖ tibia
(ˈtɪbɪə)
Pl. -æ (-iː).
[L. tībia shin-bone, a pipe or flute.]
1. Anat. and Zool. The inner and usually larger of the two bones (tibia and fibula) of the lower leg, from the knee to the ankle; the shin-bone.
In birds the tibia is fused with some of the bones of the tarsus, forming that more strictly called tibiotarsus.
| 1726–41 Monro Anat. (ed. 3) 282 The superior Extremity of the Tibia is large. 1791 W. Bartram Carolina 505 A kind of flute, made of..the tibia of the deer's leg. 1845 Todd & Bowman Phys. Anat. I. 100 The tibia is convex forwards and outwards. 1872 Mivart Elem. Anat. 183 The tibia, or shin-bone, is..an elongated bone, more so than any other..except the femur. |
b. Applied also to the corresponding part of the leg itself; now esp. to the tibiotarsus of birds.
| [1693 tr. Blancard's Phys. Dict. (ed. 2), Tibia, the Leg, the part betwixt the Knee and the Ancle. [So 1704 J. Harris Lex. Techn. I.]] 1826 Stephens in Shaw Gen. Zool. XIII. 214 These birds differ..in having..the tibiæ divested of feathers. 1869 Gillmore tr. Figuier's Rept. & Birds iv. 339 Woodcocks differ from Snipes in having..the tibiæ feathered at the joint. |
c. Entom. The fourth of the five joints of the leg of an insect, that between the femur and the tarsus.
| 1815 Kirby & Sp. Entomol. (1828) I. xv. 488 A pincer formed by the posterior metatarsus and tibia. 1868 Duncan tr. Figuier's Insect W. Introd. 8 When about to jump they bring the tibia into contact with the thigh. 1888 Rolleston & Jackson Anim. Life 499 The thoracic limbs [in Insecta] consist typically of a coxa, trochanter, femur, tibia, and tarsus... The tibia is often armed with spines or calcaria. |
2. Antiq. An ancient (single or double) flute or flageolet.
| 1705 Addison Italy 322 The same Variety of Strings may be observ'd on their Harps, and of Stops on their Tibiæ. 1834 Lytton Pompeii i. ii, I paid a visit to Pliny; he was sitting in his summer-house writing while an unfortunate slave played on the tibia. |