a. and sb. Also -yle. [a. F. syndactyle (Cuvier), f. Gr. σύν SYN- + δάκτυλος finger, DACTYL.] a. adj. Having some or all of the fingers or toes wholly or partly united, as certain mammals (e.g., kangaroos) and birds (e.g., kingfishers and web-footed birds). b. sb. A syndactyl animal. So Syndactylic, Syndactylous adjs.; Syndactylism, Syndactyly [F. syndactylie], the condition of being syndactyl, esp. as a malformation or deformity; Syndactylized ppl. a., rendered syndactyl.
1836. Swainson, Nat. Hist. Birds, I. iv. I. 148. This union of the two outer toes, which, according to M. Cuvier’s views, makes them *syndactyle.
1872. Coues, N. Amer. Birds, 178. The middle and outer toes are perfectly coherent for a great distance, constituting the syndactyle … foot.
1835–6. Todd’s Cycl. Anat., I. 267/1, note. The inner toe being deficient; and the two other anterior ones being united as in the other *Syndactyles.
1840. Whewell, Philos. Induct. Sci., I. Introd. p. cxi. To anglicize the terminations of the names which … Cuvier gives…; thus … the Passerines,… the Syndactyls.
1835. Partington, Brit. Cycl. Nat. Hist., I. 441/2. *Syndactylic feet. These [birds] have all the three front toes united.
1889. Buck’s Handbk. Med. Sci., VIII. 555/1. *Syndactylism in the lower extremity is less rare,… it is not uncommon to see two of the toes united as far as the first interphalangeal joint.
1915. Man, XV. 176. Photographs and skiographs of members of a family showing hereditary syndactylism and polydactylism.
1908. Biometrika, March, 27. When two fingers are closely *syndactylised the nails are also united.
1835. Penny Cycl., IV. 156/2. Bee-eater … one … of the *syndactylous tribe, which have the external toe nearly as long as the middle one, and both joined together up to the penultimate articulation.
1898. Guide Mammalia Brit. Mus., 109. The feet [of wombats] show a slight tendency towards a syndactylous structure.
1864. Reader, 13 Feb., 205/2. Union by integument, or *‘syndactyly,’ of the three middle digits.
