pollex

noun

1. The thumb; the first, or preaxial, digit of the forelimb, corresponding to the hallux in the hind limb. In birds, the pollex is the joint which bears the alula or bastard wing.

   “The Simiidae have a man-like appearance. They possess neither tails nor bestial cheek pouches. Their arms are longer than their legs, and they have opposable pollexes and a broad sternum.”

   “We came to know the curious roadside species, Hitchhiking Man, Homo pollex of science, with all its many sub-species and forms: […]”

   “Then there are the amateur carpenters. Poor, misguided devils. They bring purple thumbs back to work. Purple pollexes because they smashed the daylights out of their digits trying to drive four penny finishing nails into flimsy bits of moulding.”

   “Among the crabs with abnormal legs, one leg had two pollexes and three dactyls (Fig. 4B), one had a Y-shaped dactyl (Fig. 4C), two had clawlike dactyls (Fig. 4D), and the rest of the abnormal legs had a curved structure.”