Foot

Foot, Michael, 1913-, British politician. He entered Parliament in 1945 and became a spokesperson for the Labour party's radical left wing. Editor of the party organ, the Tribune, he served as secretary of state for employment (1974-75) and as leader of the House of Commons (1976-79). He succeeded James Callaghan as Labour party leader (1980-83) and tried to maintain the party's traditional policies in the face of the opposition of more conservative members, who broke away and formed the Social Democratic party.

Foot, Samuel Augustus, 1780-1846, American politician, b. Cheshire, Conn. He served as a Democratic Republican in the Connecticut legislature (1817-18, 1821-23, 1825-26) and in the U.S. House of Representatives (1819-21, 1823-25) before he was a U.S. senator (1827-33). In the Senate he became prominent by offering (1829) the Foot Resolution. He was again (1833) elected—this time a Whig—to the House of Representatives, but he resigned to become governor of Connecticut. His name appears sometimes as Foote.

Foot, Solomon, 1802-66, U.S. Senator from Vermont (1851-66), b. Cornwall, Vt. He taught school, studied law, and was admitted to the bar in 1831. Foot served several terms in the state legislature and was in the U.S. House of Representatives (1843-47). His antislavery convictions carried him into the new Republican party. In the Senate he was recognized as a master of parliamentary law (he was often president pro tempore) and established many customs in the Senate's procedure.

foot: see English units of measurement.

foot, in anatomy, terminal part of the land vertebrate leg. The term is also applied to any invertebrate appendage used either for locomotion or attachment, e.g., the legs of insects and crustacea, and the single locomotive appendage of the clam. Among land vertebrates, the foot includes the area from the ankle through the toes. In some animals, including humans, the weight is supported on the entire surface of the foot. Such animals are known as plantigrade. In digitigrade animals, e.g., the dog and cat, the weight is supported on a pad behind the toes, while the ankle and wrist areas remain elevated. Such animals as horses and cows that walk on a naillike structure (hoof) at the end of one or more toes are known as unguligrades. Like the hand, the human foot has five digits. However, it is less flexible and lacks an opposable digit (thumb) for grasping, as do the feet of most primates. The human foot consists of 26 bones, connected by tough bands of ligaments. Seven rounded tarsal bones (the internal, middle, and external cuneiform bones, navicular, cuboid, talus, and calcaneus) lie below the ankle joint and form the instep. Five metatarsal bones form the ball of the foot. There are 14 phalanges in the toes (two in the great toe and three in each of the others). The foot bones form two perpendicular arches that normally meet the ground only at the heel and ball of the foot (see flat foot); these arches are found only in humans. The use of the stride, a form of walking in which one leg falls behind the vertical axis of the backbone, is also a singular aspect of the human foot. The stride is thought to be an evolutionary advance from running, and is related to the unique structure of the human foot.

or hoof-and-mouth disease

Highly contagious viral disease of cloven-footed mammals (including cattle), spread by ingestion and inhalation. The afflicted animal develops fever and painful blisters on the tongue, lips, other tissues of the mouth, muzzle or snout, teats, and feet. FMD is endemic in many places. Because of its rapid spread and impact on animal productivity, it is considered the most economically devastating livestock disease in the world. It is not a human health hazard. No effective treatment exists; vaccines control epidemics but have not eliminated them. Since the virus can persist, quarantine, slaughter, cremation or burial of carcasses, and decontamination must be rigorous. Strict surveillance has kept North America largely FMD-free since 1929. In early 2001 a major outbreak occurred in the United Kingdom, followed shortly by outbreaks in The Netherlands and France.

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Basic unit of verse metre. Any of various fixed combinations or groups of stressed and unstressed (or long and short) syllables comprise a foot. The prevailing kind and number of feet determines the metre of a poem. The most common feet in English verse are the iamb, an unstressed followed by a stressed syllable; the trochee, a stressed followed by an unstressed syllable; the anapest, two unstressed syllables followed by a stressed syllable; and the dactyl, a stressed syllable followed by two unstressed syllables. Seealso prosody.

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Perennial, spreading, herbaceous legume (Lotus corniculatus) native to Europe and Asia but introduced to other regions. The stem grows to about 2 ft (60 cm) long. Its leaves consist of three oval leaflets, broadest near the tip. The yellow flowers (sometimes tinged with red) grow in clusters of 5 to 10. Often used as forage for cattle, it is occasionally a troublesome weed.

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(born July 23, 1913, Plymouth, Devon, Eng.) Leader of Great Britain's Labour Party (1980–83). He worked as a newspaper editor and columnist (1937–74) and served in Parliament (1945–55, 1960–92). He served in Harold Wilson's cabinet as secretary of state for employment (1974–76) and leader of the House of Commons (1976–79). A left-wing socialist, Foot became the party's chief in 1980 by defeating its right-wing candidate. This and other left-wing trends caused some Labourites to resign to found the Social Democratic Party. His books include Aneurin Bevan (2 vol.; 1962, 1973).

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(born July 23, 1913, Plymouth, Devon, Eng.) Leader of Great Britain's Labour Party (1980–83). He worked as a newspaper editor and columnist (1937–74) and served in Parliament (1945–55, 1960–92). He served in Harold Wilson's cabinet as secretary of state for employment (1974–76) and leader of the House of Commons (1976–79). A left-wing socialist, Foot became the party's chief in 1980 by defeating its right-wing candidate. This and other left-wing trends caused some Labourites to resign to found the Social Democratic Party. His books include Aneurin Bevan (2 vol.; 1962, 1973).

Learn more about Foot, Michael with a free trial on Britannica.com.

The foot is an anatomical structure found in many animals. It is the terminal portion of a limb which bears weight and allows locomotion. In many animals with feet, the foot is a separate organ at the terminal part of the leg made up of one or more segments or bones, generally including claws or nails.

General forms of the foot

In land animals, insects and vertebrates have complex foot organs. The insect foot is known as a tarsus, and is distal to the tibia. In primitive insects, the tarsus was a single segment, but in more highly evolved insects the tarsus is composed of up to five segments, generally bearing claws as well.

The feet of land vertebrates are characterized as either plantigrade, digitigrade, or unguligrade. In plantigrade animals, such as frogs or bears, the bottom of the entire foot supports the weight of the animal. In digitigrade animals, such as wolves or birds, the toes bear the animal's weight, while the upper regions of the foot, the ankle and wrist, remain elevated. Finally, in unguligrade animals, such as cows or horses, even the toes are elevated, the animal standing only atop its nails, which have evolved to bear weight and are called hooves.

The human foot

Anatomy

The human foot is of the plantigrade form. The major bones in the human foot are:

• Phalanges: The bones in the toes are called phalanges.
• Metatarsals: The bones in the middle of the foot are called metatarsal bones.
• Cuneiforms: There are three bones in the middle of the foot, towards the centre of the body called cuneiforms.
• Cuboid: The bone sitting adjacent to the cuneiforms on the outside of the foot is called the cuboid.
• Navicular: This bone sits behind the cuneiforms.
• Talus: Also called the ankle bone, the talus sits directly behind the navicular.
• Calcaneus: Also called the heel bone, the calcaneus sits under the talus and behind the cuboid.

The foot also contains sesamoid bones in distal portion of the first metatarsal bone.

Anthropometry

An anthropometric study of 1197 North American adult Caucasian males (mean age 35.5 years) found that mean foot length was 26.3 cm with a standard deviation of 1.2 cm.

In culture

Worldwide, different cultures treat and perceive feet very differently:

• Many societies have "foot taboos":
• In countries strongly influenced by Buddhism (e.g., Thailand, Nepal), feet are the least respected parts of the body and strong taboos obtain against touching with feet, pointing with feet, or exposing the sole of the foot toward someone. In Thai custom, feet should not be in a higher position than someone's head and must never face someone or an image of the Buddha. In Nepal, sleeping on the floor with someone's feet oriented toward another sleeper is considered entirely unacceptable.
• Traditional Arab culture also has the same anti-foot bias as in the Nepal or Thailand cultures.
• In traditional China (10th through 20th Centuries), the practice of female foot binding stunted the growth of the feet, resulting in an aesthetically desirable (though deformed) foot.
• Within several Christian denominations, foot washing is a religious ritual possibly originating in the hospitality customs of the Levant.
• Foot fetishism is a sexual interest and preoccupation with feet and hosiery. Playing footsie is also a term dealing with rubbing each other's feet, and can have sexual connotations, while a foot job is a sex act involving the feet.

Footwear customs

Customs about footwear while indoors vary significantly from place to place and usually depend on climate, weather, and other factors:

• It is customary to remove one's footwear when entering a home:
• in much of Europe and Canada, and in many homes in New Zealand and Australia.
• in some homes in the United Kingdom
• in some homes in the United States
• in Korea and Japan the custom is so widespread that floors are often made of materials that are too soft to survive being walked on with shoes.
• In some cultures, bare feet may be considered unsightly or offensive. In Arab countries and in Thailand, it is considered extremely offensive to show someone the sole of your foot, although the practice of going barefoot is common, due to various reasons including hot climate and tradition.
• In many religious subgroups of Uzbekistan, touching another's foot is a sign of affection. However, more conservative families consider this to be an act of promiscuity.
• The feet are one of the most common places to be tickled on the human body. The soles generally tend to be sensitive to tickling.

Customary measurement

One way to measure short distances on the ground is by placing one foot directly in front of the other; this led to the adoption of the foot as a unit of length, even though not all human feet correspond to this measure.

Myths

It is a myth that the Imperial "foot" (304.8 mm) is about the length of the average European male foot. The average today is less than 270 mm and 90% of the population is within 20 mm of that. Very few men today have feet that are a "foot" long: most are more than 35 mm shorter. In the past, the average length would have been even less. Even the overall length of most shoes remains well short of one "foot". Tradition has it that the Imperial foot was based upon the size of Hercules's foot.

Medical aspects

Due to their position and function, feet are exposed to a variety of potential infections and injuries, including athlete's foot, bunions, ingrown toenails, Morton's neuroma, plantar fasciitis, plantar warts and stress fractures. In addition, there are several genetic conditions that can affect the shape and function of the feet, including a club foot or flat feet.

On the evolutionary ladder, humans are the first mammals to walk completely upright. Thus the entire weight of the body is distributed over two feet, instead of four. Larger feet are known to give improved posture, balance and avoid back problems.

This leaves humans more vulnerable to medical problems that are caused by poor leg and foot alignments. Also, the wearing of shoes, sneakers and boots can impede proper alignment and movement within the ankle and foot. For example, high heels are known to throw off the natural weight balance (this can also affect the lower back). For the sake of posture, flat soles and heels are advised.

A doctor who specializes in the treatment of the feet practices podiatry and is called a podiatrist. A pedorthist specializes in the use and modification of footwear to treat problems related to the lower limbs.

External links

• Anatomical illustrations

References