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FOOT

Volume 4 · 265 words · 1778 Edition

a part of the body of most animals wherever they stand, walk, &c. See Anatomy, no. 62.

the Latin and Greek poetry, a metre or measure, composed of a certain number of long and short syllables.

These feet are commonly reckoned 28: of which some are simple, as consisting of two or three syllables, and therefore called disyllabic or trisyllabic feet; others are compound, consisting of four syllables, and are therefore called tetrasyllabic feet.

The disyllabic feet are four in number, viz. the pyrrhichius, spondeus, iambus, and trocheus. See Pyrrhichius, &c.

The trisyllabic feet are eight in number, viz. the dactylus, anapoleus, tribrachys, molossus, amphibrachys, amphimacer, bacchius, and antibacchius. See Dactyl, &c.

The tetrasyllabic feet are in number 16, viz. the proceleusmaticus, dispondeus, choriambus, antipastus, diambus, dichoreus, ionicus a majore, ionicus a minore, epitritus primus, epitritus secundus, epitritus tertius, epitritus quartus, peon primus, peon secundus, peon tertius, and peon quartus. See Proceleusmaticus, &c.

English poetry. See Poetry, no. 117, 175.

Foot is also a long measure consisting of 12 inches. Geometers divide the foot into 10 digits, and the digit into 10 lines.

Foot Square, is the same measure both in breadth and length, containing 144 square or superficial inches.

Cubic or Solid Foot, is the same measure in all the three dimensions, length, breadth, and depth or thickness, containing 1728 cubic inches.

Foot of a Horse, in the menage, the extremity of the leg, from the coronet to the lower part of the hoof.

Foot-Level, among artificers, an instrument that serves as a foot-rule, a square, and a level. See Level, Rule, and Squares.