pedipulation

English

Etymology

(This etymology is missing or incomplete. Please add to it, or discuss it at the Etymology scriptorium.)

Noun

pedipulation (usually uncountable, plural pedipulations)

1. (uncountable, rare) Dexterous manipulation of objects using the feet.
   • 1853 Jan. to June, "Notes upon Australia," The British Journal, p. 315 (Google preview):

     It is a rather amusing sight to see the native and his "lubra," or wife. . . . [T]heir remarkable power of pedipulation is a serviceable agent to them, for any small article which excites their cupidity they can take up with the toe, pass it up the back, and then conceal it in the girdle.

   • 1908, Henry Sturmey, H. Walter Staner, The Autocar: A Journal Published in the Interests of the Mechanically Propelled Road Carriage, volume 20, page 306:

     We understand that this clutch can be slipped to the uttermost by pedipulation.

   • 1944 March 1, Walter Monfried, “The Player Piano Is a Dead as Salt Mackerel, They Say, but Wait”, in The Milwaukee Journal, retrieved 23 Sept 2013:

     If ever they attempt a revival of their trade, they would do well to photograph beauties in shorts pumping away, with the unmistakable inference that such pulchritude and shapeliness were the results of diligent pedipulation of the player piano.

   • 2009, T. Sugihara, Y. Nakamura, “Boundary Condition Relaxation Method for Stepwise Pedipulation Planning of Biped Robots”, in IEEE Transactions on Robotics, volume 25, number 3:

     A completely stepwise online pedipulation planning method is proposed . . . based on the general solution of the equation of motion of an approximate dynamical biped model whose mass is concentrated at the center of mass.

2. (countable, rare) An instance of such manipulation.
   • 1813, “Customs, Manners, and present Appearance of Constantinople”, in The New Annual Register, or General Repository of History, Politics, and Literature for the year 1812, page 179:

     At their turning-lathes, they employ their toes to guide the chisel; and, in these pedipulations, shew to Europeans a diverting degree of address.

   • 1976, The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction‎^[1], volume 51, page 95:

     He had put his feet out on the floor and was feeling for his slippers with blind pedipulations.

Related terms

• pedipulate
• pedipulator

References

• Oxford English Dictionary, 3rd ed., 2005.