The Collaborative International Dictionary
Furculum \Fur"cu*lum\, n. [NL., dim. of L. furca a fork.] (Anat.) The wishbone or merrythought of birds, formed by the united clavicles.
Wiktionary
n. (context anatomy English) The wishbone or merrythought of birds, formed by the united clavicles.
Usage examples of "furculum".
Photodilus seem not to have been investigated, but it has been found to want the tarsal loop, as well as the manubrial process, while its clavicles are not joined in a furcula, nor do they meet the keel, and the posterior margin of the sternum has processes and fissures like the tawny section.
For to omit the hioides or throat-bone of animals, the furcula or merry-thought in birds, which supporteth the scapulæ, affording a passage for the winde-pipe and the gullet, the wings of Flyes, and disposure of their legges in their first formation from maggots, and the position of their horns, wings and legges, in their Aurelian cases and swadling clouts: The back of the Cimex Arboreus, found often upon Trees and lesser plants, doth elegantly discover the Burgundian decussation.
In the frigate-bird the symphysis of the furcula coalesces with the carina and the upper end of each ramus with the caracoid, while in its turn each caracoid coalesces with the proximal end of the scapula!