a. and sb. [mod. ad. Gr. κυβοειδής cube-like: in mod.L. cuboīdes, F. cuboïde.]
A. adj. Resembling a cube; of a form approximating to that of a cube; cuboidal; spec. in cuboid bone (os cuboides), one of the bones of the foot, between the calcaneum and the fourth and fifth metatarsal bones.
[1706. in Phillips, Cuboides, the seventh Bone of the Tarsus of the Foot.]
1829. J. Bell, Anat. Hum. Body (ed. 7), 73. The place and effect of the cuboid bone is very curious.
1854. Badham, Halieut., 147. Fish … characterized by sharp projecting cheeks, and cuboid heads.
B. sb. 1. Anat. Short for cuboid bone: see prec.
1839. Todd, Cycl. Anat., II. 340/1. Bounded on the outside by the cuboid.
1881. Mivart, Cat, 113. The calcaneum articulates with the … cuboid in front.
2. A cuboidal block or lump.
1883. Morning News, 6 April, 5/5. He purchased … two cuboids of nitro-glycerine.
3. Geom. A solid resembling a cube, with the rectangular faces not all equal; a rectangular parallelepiped.
1890. R. B. Hayward, Elem. Solid Geom., 78. Cuboids … on the same base are to one another as their heights. Note. The need of some short word in the place of the polysyllabic ‘rectangular parallelepiped’ has been long felt. I have coined the word ‘cuboid.’
