Hypertext Webster Gateway: "Dactyl"
From Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913) (web1913)
Dactyl \Dac"tyl\, n. [L. dactylus, Gr. da`ktylos a finger, a
dactyl. Cf. {Digit}.]
1. (Pros.) A poetical foot of three sylables (--- [crescent]
[crescent]), one long followed by two short, or one
accented followed by two unaccented; as, L.
t["e]gm[i^]n[e^], E. mer\b6ciful; -- so called from the
similarity of its arrangement to that of the joints of a
finger. [Written also {dactyle}.]
2. (Zo["o]l.)
(a) A finger or toe; a digit.
(b) The claw or terminal joint of a leg of an insect or
crustacean.
From WordNet (r) 1.7 (wn)
dactyl
n 1: a metrical unit with stressed-unstressed-unstressed
syllables
2: a finger or toe in human beings or corresponding part in
other vertebrates [syn: {digit}]
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