Definitions

from The Century Dictionary.

  • noun In anatomy and zoology, a phalanx of a digit.
  • noun In entomology, any one of the joints of an insect's tarsus: generally used collectively of all the joints, exclusive or not of the metatarsus: as, the anterior phalanges.
  • noun In botany, a bundle of stamens joined more or less by their filaments: as, the phalanges of stamens in a diadelphous or polyadelphous flower.
  • noun Same as phalangiid.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • noun anatomy One of the bones of the finger or toe, also called phalanx.
  • noun politics A political movement, the Falange.

Etymologies

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition

[French, from Old French, body of infantrymen, from Latin, from Greek phalanx, phalang-, log, battle array, bone between the finger and toe joints; see phalanx.]

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Examples

  • "I know very little about the tactics of Fourieristic-phalanxes, but believe a phalange is a community or association of about eighteen hundred persons, who were supposed or intended to practice the

    Beulah 1872

  • Watching Mr. Colom before the cameras, gesturing nervously and backed by his phalange of sweaty rumpled henchmen, the only thing missing were the tattoos and the hand signs; but is all the same thing, these are cholos in neck ties.

    Global Voices in English » Guatemala: Rosenberg Video Causes Uncertainty and Speculation 2009

  • Dr. Fong initially reserves an opinion regarding the return to full service for the pinkie, as the saw blade blasted most of the bone below the joint, or proximal phalange, and the cartilage is shredded.

    MY EMPIRE OF DIRT Manny Howard 2010

  • Dr. Fong initially reserves an opinion regarding the return to full service for the pinkie, as the saw blade blasted most of the bone below the joint, or proximal phalange, and the cartilage is shredded.

    MY EMPIRE OF DIRT Manny Howard 2010

  • Dr. Fong initially reserves an opinion regarding the return to full service for the pinkie, as the saw blade blasted most of the bone below the joint, or proximal phalange, and the cartilage is shredded.

    MY EMPIRE OF DIRT Manny Howard 2010

  • Dr. Fong initially reserves an opinion regarding the return to full service for the pinkie, as the saw blade blasted most of the bone below the joint, or proximal phalange, and the cartilage is shredded.

    MY EMPIRE OF DIRT Manny Howard 2010

  • The first joint was all right, but the second phalange was cracked, I thought.

    Sick Cycle Carousel 2010

  • Also, who said that the phalange and Ahrar militias committed sectarian and ethnic massacres towards Muslims and Palestinians in eastern Beirut?

    Monday, January 19, 2009 As'ad 2009

  • But I would be offended if someone gave me a phalange cake after I had lost some...

    Two Thumbs Up! 2009

  • Just go to the store, pick out a nice femur, a jaw-dropping scapula, or a breathtaking phalange, and be on your merry osteoporosis-free way.

    You Staying Young MEHMET C. OZ 2007

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