a. (sb.) [ad. mod.L. tarsāl-is, f. L. tars-us; see TARSUS and -AL.]
1. Of or pertaining to the tarsus of the ankle or foot, in its various senses.
1817. Kirby & Sp., Entomol. (1818), II. xxiii. 328. The grasshoppers with setaceous antennæ … have four tarsal joints. Ibid. (1826), III. xxxv. 670. The tibia or shank is the fourth joint of the leg, which … is the analogue … of the tarsus or tarsal bones of vertebrate animals.
1840. G. V. Ellis, Anat., 712. The tarsal artery … gives branches to the extensor, to the bones of the tarsus and their articulations.
1851. Richardson, Geol., viii. (1855), 314. The foot, like the hand, [consisting] of three ranges of bones, tarsal, metatarsal, and phalanges.
1875. C. C. Blake, Zool., 94. The number of tarsal scales is a specific test in most birds.
1875. Cambridge, in Encycl. Brit., II. 295/2. The third, or inferior tarsal claw [of spiders].
1883. Thompson, trans. Müller’s Fertil. Fl., 51. The carrying-power of the tarsal brushes is increased.
2. Of or pertaining to the tarsi of the eyelids.
1839. T. Beale, Nat. Hist. Sperm Whale, 119. The eyelids are without cilia and tarsal cartilages.
1889. G. A. Berry, Dis. Eye, i. 2. An oily secretion is formed in the tarsal, or Meibomian glands.
1890. Webster, Tarsal tetter,… an eruptive disease of the edges of the eyelids.
B. sb. Short for tarsal bone, joint, etc.
1881. Mivart, Cat, 341. The tarsals each ossify from one centre, as do the carpals.
1888. Athenæum, 17 March, 344/3. A paper … ‘On the Carpus and Tarsus of the Anura.’… In the hind foot they recorded the discovery of a fourth tarsal.
1889. E. D. Cope, in Amer. Naturalist, Oct., 863. Carpals and tarsals not distinct in form from metapodials.
