Ornith. Pl. tomia. [mod.L., f. Gr. τομ-ός cutting, sharp- + L. -ium (cf. Gr. τόμιον a sacrifice cut up, also τομεῑον incision).] Each of the cutting edges of a bird’s bill.
1834. R. Mudie, Brit. Birds (1841), I. 349. They … do not peck … or grind hard substances between the oblique tomia.
1874. Coues, Birds N. W., 622. Bill greenish-yellow, chrome along the tomia. Ibid. (1890), Field & Gen. Ornithol., II. 152. The mandibular tomium.
