webbed, ppl. a.
(wɛbd)
[f. web n. + -ed2.]
1. Furnished with a web or connecting membrane; esp. of the feet of certain birds.
| 1664 Power Exp. Philos. i. 5 The Common Fly..her wings look like a Sea-fan with black thick ribs or fibers, dispers'd and branch'd through them, which are webb'd between with a thin membrane or film, like a slice of Muscovy-glasse. 1678 Ray Willughby's Ornith. iii. iii. 322 Such [birds] as have all four toes web'd together. 1773 Pennant Genera of Birds p. xi, The toes of birds that swim are either plain,..or pinnated,..or entirely webbed or palmated. 1816 Tuckey Narr. Exped. R. Zaire ii. (1818) 47 Three toes full webbed, the fourth toe..quite free. 1851 Woodward Mollusca 71 Arms (except the ventral pair), webbed high up. 1859 Darwin Orig. Spec. vi. (1873) 142 What can be plainer than that the webbed feet of ducks and geese are formed for swimming? |
b. Path. Having a ‘web’ as a congenital malformation. See web n. 8 b.
| 1862 E. J. Chance Bodily Deform. i. 86 The Fingers or Toes may be more or less webbed together. 1876 T. Bryant Pract. Surg. (ed. 2) II. 300 Webbed fingers and toes are another common deformity. 1913 Dorland Med. Dict. (ed. 7) s.v. Penis, Webbed penis, a penis that is inclosed by the skin of the scrotum. |
c. Machinery. In various uses: see web n. 14.
| 1794 Rigging & Seamanship I. 154 Sheaves..are made..of iron, with a brass coak, either open or webbed. 1913 J. B. Bishop Panama Gateway v. iii. 365 Each [lock gate] is a huge webbed steel box, the girders of which are covered with a steel sheathing. |
2. Covered with, or as with, cobweb. In Bot. = cobwebbed 2.
| 1810 Splendid Follies I. 110 The tender blades of trefoil were still webbed in silvery gossamer. 1862 Thornbury Turner I. 360 There were skies of an orange purple, skies webbed with grey showers. 1870 Hooker Stud. Flora 191 Carduus crispus..involucre webbed. 1905 E. T. Thurston Traffic ii. ii, Only the gaunt, gray forms of the stunted poplars stood out, webbed, against the leaden colour of the sky. |