levator
(lɪˈveɪtə(r))
Also 7 erron. levitor.
[a. late L. levātor, agent-n. f. L. levāre to raise.]
1. Anat. A muscle whose function is to raise the part to which it is attached = elevator 1 a; also attrib., as levator-muscle.
| 1615 Crooke Body of Man 741 Euery leuator or lifting muscle hath a depressor or sinking muscle. 1826 Kirby & Sp. Entomol. IV. xliii. 171 Levator muscles that raise an organ. 1874 Roosa Dis. Ear (ed. 2) 56 The levator is the largest of the three muscles. 1877 Huxley Anat. Inv. Anim. vi. 262 The large levator muscle of the appendage. |
† 2. Surg. An instrument used to raise a depressed portion of bone; = elevator 2. Obs.
| 1672 Wiseman Wounds i. x. 118, I put in a Levator, and raised up the deprest bone even with the rest. 1688 R. Holme Armoury iii. 398/2 If [acheing teeth] chance to break in the pulling, the Levitor helpeth to prise out the roots. 1698 Fryer Acc. E. India & P. 176 Two Bones of the Bigness and Figure of a Levator. 1789 T. Whately in Med. Commun. II. 388 With levators and nippers I separated it piecemeal. |