Home1823 Edition

FOOT

Volume 8 · 280 words · 1823 Edition

a part of the body of most animals wherein they stand, walk, &c. See ANATOMY.

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 dissyllabic or trissyllabic feet; others are compound, consisting of four syllables, and are therefore called tetrasyllabic feet.

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

The trissyllabic feet are eight in number, viz. the dactylus, anapestus, tribrachys, molossus, amphibrachys, amphimacer, bacchius, and antibacchius. See DACTYL, &c.

The tetrasyllabic are in number 16, viz. the proceleusmaticus, dispondeus, choriambus, antispastus, diambus, dichoreus, ionicus a majore, ionicus a minore, epitritus primus, epitritus secundus, epitritus tertius, epitritus Foot is also a long measure consisting of 12 inches. Geometricians divide the foot into 10 digits, and the digit into 10 lines.

Foot-Halt, the name of a disorder peculiar to sheep. It is occasioned by an insect, which when it comes to a certain maturity, resembles a worm of two, three, or four inches in length. See Farriery Index.

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 manege, 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 Square.