* * *
meta·car·pus .met-ə-'kär-pəs n the part of the human hand or the front foot in quadrupeds between the carpus and the phalanges that contains five more or less elongated bones when all the digits are present (as in humans) but is modified in many animals by the loss or reduction of some bones or the fusing of adjacent bones
* * *
n.
* * *
meta·car·pus (met″ə-kahrґpəs) [meta- + carpus] [TA] the part of the hand between the wrist and the fingers, its skeleton being five cylindric bones (metacarpals) extending from the carpus to the phalanges. See also ossa metacarpi, under os2.
Metacarpus, comprising the metacarpal bones, which extend between the carpus and phalanges and are numbered lateromedially.
Medical dictionary. 2011.