pedicle

plural pedicles

1. biologyA fleshy line used to attach and anchor brachiopods and some bivalve molluscs to a substrate.

   A species of shell-fish, often found sticking by its pedicle to the bottom of ships, doing no other injury than deadening the way a little: "Barnacles, termed soland geese In th' islands of the Orcades."

   1867, William Henry Smyth, The Sailor's Word-Book

2. biologyThe attachment point for antlers in cervids.

   His long, rakish horns are mounted on a pedicle that extends above his head, thus accentuating the droll length of his features.

   1910, John T. McCutcheon, In Africa

3. A stalk that attaches a tumour to normal tissue

   One of these women, a secundipara, had gone two weeks over time, and had a large ovarian cyst, the pedicle of which had become twisted, the fluid in the cyst being sanguineous.

   1896, George M. Gould, Anomalies and Curiosities of Medicine

   1 more example

   --Figure 3. Fig. 4, Plate 58, represents the neck of the bladder and neighbouring part of the urethra of an ox, in which a polypous growth is seen attached by a long pedicle to the veru montanum and blocking up the neck of the bladder.

   1859, Joseph Maclise, Surgical Anatomy

4. pedicel (any sense)

   One of the ends is lengthened out into a neck or pedicle, which is as long as the egg proper.

   1914, Alexander Teixeira De Mattos, The Mason-bees

5. peduncle (any sense)

   The chimpanzee Heschl's gyrus homolog also showed evidence of a strongly excavated middle Heschl's sulcus, within the confines of a single gyral pedicle, predominantly in the right hemisphere.

   1998 January 9, Patrick J. Gannon et al., “Asymmetry of Chimpanzee Planum Temporale: Humanlike Pattern of Wernicke's Brain Language Area Homolog”, in Science, volume 279, number 5348, →DOI, pages 220–222

   1 more example

   The surface of the extracellular space at the base of the cone pedicle in goldfish has been estimated to be between 0.01 to 0.1 µm 2 depending on the fixation procedure used [ C. A. V. Vandenbranden, et al., Vision Res.

   2001 May 11, Maarten Kamermans et al., “Hemichannel-Mediated Inhibition in the Outer Retina”, in Science, volume 292, number 5519, →DOI, pages 1178–1180

6. medicinePart of a skin or tissue graft temporarily left attached to its original site.
7. A fetter for the foot.

   1836 The Memoirs, Private and Political, of Daniel O'Connell In the account of former persecutions, I have read of decapitation, crucifixion, gallowses, manacles, pedicles, thumb- screws, fire and fagot, rocks and pullies, slow fires, red hot gridirons, and boiling lead;

   1 more example

   two emaciated and thread-bare prisoners are bound with manacles and pedicles to the middle of a wall about four stories high in an immense featureless white room

   1996 The Ecocriticism Reader: Landmarks in Literary Ecology - Page 36