fibula

plural fibulae · plural fibulas · obsolete plural fibulæ

1. An ancient kind of brooch used to hold clothing together, similar in function to the modern safety pin.

   Most of the fibulae have a triangular molding above the notch, which probably contained wound wire. The crossbar is decorated either with a flat knob or with a Persian merlon.

   1949, N. P. Toll, “Fibulae”, in Teresa G. Frisch, N. P. Toll, edited by M[ikhail] I[vanovich] Rostoftzeff, A. R. Bellinger, F. E. Brown, N. P. Toll, and C. B. Welles, The Excavations at Dura-Europos, Part IV. The Bronze Objects: Fascicle 1. Pierced Bronzes, Enameled Bronzes, and Fibulae, number Final Report IV, New Haven, Conn.: Yale University Press; London: Geoffrey Cumberlege, Oxford University Press, →OCLC, Bow Fibulae, page 56

2. anatomyThe smaller of the two bones in the lower leg.

   [Sherman:] I'm a black belt, boys. Last week, I broke my karate coach's tibia and fibula when I flipped him!

   2017, James Patterson and Chris Grabenstein, Pottymouth and Stoopid, page 100

   Synonyms: calf bone