flexor
(ˈflɛksɔː(r))
Cf. flector.
[a. mod.L. flexor, agent-n. f. flectĕre (ppl. stem flex-) to bend.]
1. A muscle whose function it is to produce flexion in any part of the body. Opposed to extensor.
| 1615 Crooke Body of Man 743 The two Flexors and the two extensors. 1726 Monro Anat. 331 The Flexors of the great toe. 1880 Huxley Crayfish iii. 99 The flexors of the abdomen. |
2. attrib. in flexor muscle, flexor surface, flexor tendon.
| 1726 Monro Anat. 328 This Bone is concave, for lodging the Flexor-muscles. a 1735 Arbuthnot Mem. Scrib. x. Wks. (1892) 345 Flatterers who have the flexor muscles so strong that they are always bowing and cringing. 1847 Youatt Horse i. 14 Through the whole course of the flexor tendon. 1881 Mivart in Nature No. 615. 337 A spine which projects vertically from the inner, or flexor surface of each finger or toe. |