subˈcostal, a. and n.
[ad. mod.L. subcostālis: see sub- 1 b and costal.]
A. adj.
1. Anat. Situated below a rib or beneath the ribs; lying on the under side of a rib, as a groove for an artery.
| 1872 Humphry Myology 19 The under or sub-costal parts of the broad pelvic shield. 1876 Quain's Elem. Anat. (ed. 8) I. 28 The inferior border [of a rib] presents on its inner aspect the subcostal groove. 1882 Ibid. (ed. 9) I. 30 The subcostal angle into the centre of which the ensiform process projects. 1890 Billings Nat. Med. Dict., Sub-costal angle, that formed by margins of costal cartilages at lower aperture of thorax. 1910 Encycl. Brit. (ed. 11) II. 667 Below the last rib a subcostal artery runs. |
2. Entom. Situated behind or near the costal vein or nervure of an insect's wing.
| 1826 Kirby & Sp. Entomol. III. 376 Neuræ Subcostales (the Subcostal Nervures). Nervures springing from the under-side of the post-costal nervure, or from each other. |
B. n. A subcostal muscle (usually in L. form subcostalis); a subcostal artery, vein, or nervure.
| [1733 tr. Winslow's Anat. (1756) I. 319 The Sub-Costales having the superior Extremities of their Fibres much more distant from the Vertebral Articulation of the Ribs, than the lower Extremities.] |