Pl. fibulæ, -as. [a. L. fībula, f. fīgĕre to fix, or the synonymous fīvĕre (Festus).
ǁ 1. Antiq. A clasp, buckle, or brooch.
1673. Ray, Journ. Low C., 346. Sepulchral urns, Lachrymal urns, ancient Lamps, Weights, Rings, Fibulæ and abundance of other implements.
1736. Pope, Lett. to H. Cromwell, 30 Dec., 1710. I was just going to say, of his buttons; but I think Jupiter wore none (however I won’t be positive to so nice a critic as you, but his robe might be subnected with a fibula).
1831. Wordsw., The Highland Broach, 17.
| The Fibula, whose shape, I ween, | |
| Still in the Highland Broach is seen. |
1851. D. Wilson, Preh. Ann. (1863), I. I. viii. 225–6. The only other relics founnd in the grave were a small fibula of bone, and a knife or lance-head of flint.
1869. T. Nichols, Handy Bk. Brit. Mus., 349. There is also a large collection of fibulas or garment-fastenings.
2. Anat. The long or splint bone on the outer side of the leg (app. from its resemblance to the tongue of a clasp, of which the tibia forms the other part).
1706. Phillips (ed. Kersey), Fibula.… The lesser Bone of the Shank, which seems to joyn the Muscles of the Leg like a Button or Clasp.
1741. Monro, Anat. Bones (ed. 3), 287. The sharpest Angle of the Fibula is anterior.
1831. R. Knox, Cloquet’s Anat., 377. It arises, by short aponeuroses, from the fore part of the inner surface of the fibula.
1872. Mivart, Elem. Anat., 183. The femur does not articulate with the fibula.
