forelimb

[ fawr-lim, fohr- ]

noun

1. a front limb of an animal.

forelimb

/ ˈfɔːˌlɪm /

noun

1. either of the front or anterior limbs of a four-limbed vertebrate: a foreleg, flipper, or wing

Word History and Origins

Origin of forelimb¹

First recorded in 1785–95; fore- + limb ¹

Example Sentences

The carcass—containing the head, forelimbs, and front part of the animal—was discovered encased in a chunk of ice in 2020 near the Badyarikha River in northern Siberia, above the Arctic Circle.

From Science Magazine

ATVs, dune buggies and other off-road vehicles can slam into the slow-moving tortoises with domed shells and heavily scaled, flattened forelimbs used for digging.

From Los Angeles Times

The loss of flight — which plays out at the phenotype level in changes in the forelimb, for example — thus resulted from way more than a single change in the genome.

From Salon

"I think what drew me to the specimen wasn't its lack of teeth -- it was its forelimbs," says O'Connor.

From Science Daily

Interestingly, researchers were even able to change the forelimb preference of the mice.

From Science Daily