plantigrade, a. (n.) Zool.
(ˈplæntɪgreɪd)
[a. F. plantigrade (Geoffroy and Cuvier 1795), in mod.L. plantigradus walking on the sole of the foot, f. L. planta sole + -gradus going, walking.]
Walking upon the soles of the feet (opp. to digitigrade); also said of the feet, or of the walk, of an animal. (In this general sense, man is a plantigrade animal.) Commonly restricted to the former tribe Plantigrada of carnivorous mammals, comprising several quadrupeds now distributed in various families, as the bear, wolverene, badger, racoon, etc.
| 1831 Encycl. Brit. (ed. 7) III. 10/2 The animals distinguished by the name of Plantigrade are believed to support themselves on the entire foot. 1836–9 Todd's Cycl. Anat. II. 978/2 The hinder feet in the whole of this order are plantigrade. 1875 Sir W. Turner in Encycl. Brit. I. 830/1 The human foot, therefore, is a pentadactylous, plantigrade foot. 1877 Coues Fur Anim. vii. 188 They are terrestrial animals,..the walk is plantigrade. |
b. In reference to human beings: Placing the whole sole of the foot upon the ground at once in walking; flat-footed.
| 1837 C. le Grice in Lamb's Wks. (1876) I. 7 His [Lamb's] step was plantigrade, which made his walk slow and peculiar. 1861 Russell Diary North & S. (1863) I. 384 He [the negro] is plantigrade and curved as to the tibia. |
c. transf. Of or belonging to a plantigrade animal, as a bear.
| 1853 Kane Grinnell Exp. xl. (1856) 362 A hirsute, bearded fellow, with the true plantigrade countenance. 1860 O. W. Holmes Elsie V. iv, The black bear alone could have set that plantigrade seal. |
B. n. A plantigrade animal; esp. one of the former order Plantigrada: see above.
| 1835 Kirby Hab. & Inst. Anim. II. xvii. 212 The Plantigrades are so called because they walk, like man, upon the whole foot. 1859 Darwin Orig. Spec. i. (1872) 7 With the exception of the plantigrades or bear family. |