Anat. [L. ulna (hence also It., Pg. ulna), related to Gr. ὠλένη and OE. eln ELL1 (cf. ELBOW sb.).]

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  1.  The large inner bone of the fore-arm, extending from the elbow to the wrist.

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1541.  R. Copland, Guydon’s Quest. Chirurg., G j b. The arme … is deuyded in thre great partyes. One is called vlna, the other lytel arme. Ibid., G i j. Howe many bones are in ye fyrste parte of the great hande that is named vina or adiutor?

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1646.  Sir T. Browne, Pseud. Ep., IV. iv. 184. The other or lower division of the artery descendeth by the ulna.

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1693.  trans. Blancard’s Phys. Dict. (ed. 2), Ulna,… the greater Bone, betwixt the Arm and the Wrist, which is jointed upward with the Shoulder.

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1726.  Monro, Anat. Bones (1741), 252. At the superior Extremity of the Ulna are two Processes.

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1728.  Chambers, Cycl., s.v., The Ulna lies on the inside of the Fore-Arm, reaching from the Elbow to the Wrist.

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1803.  Med. Jrnl., X. 558. The head of this bone was separated from the surrounding parts, as well as its union with the ulna.

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1825.  T. Hook, Sayings, Ser. II. Doubts and F., i. Who conceived that some desperate injury had been done to her Ladyship’s radius or ulna.

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1881.  Med. Temp. Jrnl., XLVI. 86. There was discharge from incisions both at the back and front of the hand and over the lower part of the ulna.

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  2.  The corresponding bone of the foreleg in quadrupeds, and of the wing in birds.

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1831.  Youatt, Horse, xiii. 236. The long and front bone, called the radius, is nearly straight…. The short and hinder bone is called the ulna.

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1839.  Penny Cycl., XIV. 69/1. In the ruminants generally the ulna is scarcely more than an appendage to the radius.

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1879.  E. P. Wright, Anim. Life, 57. The fore-arm [in bats] consists of a rudimentary ulna, and a long, curved radius.

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1884.  Coues, N. Amer Birds, 107. The enlarged proximal extremity of the ulna is called the olecranon, or ‘head of the elbow.’

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  3.  Palæont. and Ichthyol. (See quots.)

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  (a)  1839.  G. Roberts, Dict. Geol., Ulna..., the bone or plate which, together with the radius, forms the first row, after the humerus, in the front paddles of an ichthyosaurus and plesiosaurus.

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  (b)  a. 1843.  Encycl. Metrop. (1845), VII. 303/1. Between the lower edge of the spoke-bone and the upper edge of the ulna or cubit.

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1854.  Owen, Orr’s Circ. Sci., Org. Nat., I. 175. Of the two flat bones connecting the fin with the coracoid, the upper one is the ‘ulna.’

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