Pegleg

  A "pegleg" is a type of artificial limb (Prosthesis). Peglegs are typified as a hand carved wooden peg fitted to a stump, as often seen in pirate movies. Peglegs have been replaced by more modern materials, though some sports prosthesis do tend to have the same form.

Additional recommended knowledge

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What is the Correct Way to Check Repeatability in Balances?

Don't let static charges disrupt your weighing accuracy

Famous peg leg wearers

Historical

• François Leclerc (~1554), pirate
• Peter Stuyvesant (1612-1672), Dutch director-general of New Amsterdam
• Blas de Lezo (1687-1741), Spanish admiral
• Gouverneur Morris (1752-1816), American politician
• Józef Sowiński (1777–1831), Polish 19th century general
• Daniel Sullivan (~1871), Chicagoan
• Thomas L. "Pegleg" Smith (1801-1866), American prospector

Fictional

• Captain Ahab, character in Moby Dick
• Silas Wegg, character in Our Mutual Friend by Charles Dickens
• Wirt, character in the computer games Diablo and Diablo II
• Flatliner, character in the MMORPG EVE:Online

Not Quite Peglegs

• Long John Silver in the book Treasure Island by Robert Louis Stephenson, was missing a leg, but did not have a pegleg. He used a crutch.
• Davy Jones, a character in the film Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest, was missing a leg, but it was replaced by the leg of a crab.
• The Scotsman, in the Samurai Jack TV series, has his missing leg replaced by a machine gun.
• Cherry Darling, in the Grindhouse film Planet Terror, has a missing leg replaced by a machine gun.

Railroads

• Fulton Chain Railroad also known as the "Peg Leg" from its wooden rails.
• Bradford and Foster Brook Railway also known as the "Peg Leg" from its wooden support piles.