falcata

Plural of falcatum. falcate (fal'kat), a. and n. [L. falcatus, bent, curved, hooked, sickle-shaped, The arched costa and falcate form of wing is generally supposed to give increased powers of flight. A. R. Wallace, Nat. Select., p. 175. Falcate wings, in entom ., wings which have the tips somewhat attenuate, curved away from the costal margin, and generally acute. II. n. A figure resembling a sickle, formed by two curves bending the same way and meet IMG:content-1043.png:[graphic] IMG:content-1044.jpg:[blocks in formation] form of the word commonly used of the disk of a planet when le than half of it is illuminated. Venus, Mercury, and our Moon have phases, and appear sometimes falcated, sometimes gibbous, and sometimes more or le round.