(In molluscs) the soft structure lying below or anterior to the visceral mass, consisting of the head merging into the protrusible foot (in a gastropod) or into the tentacles (in a cephalopod).
Origin
1920s; earliest use found in Encyclopaedia Britannica. From head + foot, after head-footed.
Definition of head-foot in US English:
head-foot
noun
Zoology
(In molluscs) the soft structure lying below or anterior to the visceral mass, consisting of the head merging into the protrusible foot (in a gastropod) or into the tentacles (in a cephalopod).
Origin
1920s; earliest use found in Encyclopaedia Britannica. From head + foot, after head-footed.