a. and sb. [ad. late L. fissiped-em, f. fiss-us, pa. pple. of findĕre to split + ped-em, pēs foot.]
A. adj. Having the toes separated.
1656. Blount, Glossogr., Fissiped, cloven-footed.
1847. Craig, Fissiped.
1882. W. A. Forbes, in Nature, No. 639. 26 Jan., 287/1. The three great groups of Fissiped Carnivora.
B. sb. An animal having its toes divided.
In the two first quots. the word may be Latin.
1646. Sir T. Browne, Pseud. Ep., V. i. 234. It is discribed like fissipedes, or birdes which have their feet or clawes divided.
1688. R. Holme, Armoury, II. 309/2. Aquatick Birds, living much in Water, being Fissipedes, or having open Toes.
1847. Craig, Fissiped.
1854. J. Fleming, in Encycl. Brit. (ed. 8), VII. 542/1. The second subdivision, denominated Fissipedes, are destitute of pincers, while the feet have an appendage externally, issuing near the base, giving them a natatory character.
Hence Fissipedal a., Fissipedate a. = FISSIPED a.
1883. W. H. Fowler, in Encycl. Brit., XV. 434/1. The Fissipedal Carnivora were divided by Cuvier into two groups, according to the position of the feet in walking,—the Plantigrada, or those that place the whole of the soles to the ground, and the Digitigrada, or those that walk only on the toes.
1884. Syd. Soc. Lex., Fissipedate.
