abductor
(æbˈdʌktə(r))
[a. mod.L. abductor, n. of agent, f. abdūc-ĕre: see abduce and -or. Adopted in Eng. from the language of anatomy.]
1. Anat. A muscle which serves to draw any part of the body from its normal position, or from the median line of the body. (Often treated as Lat. with pl. abductōr-es.) Also attrib. with muscle.
| 1615 H. Crooke Body of Man 743 For euery Muscle almost hath set vnto him another, whose action is contrary to his as..to an adductor is set an abductor. 1713 Derham Physico-Theol. v. ii. 327 By being inserted into one of the Sesamoid Bones of the great Toe, diverts the Power of the Abductor Muscle. 1787 Hunter in Phil. Trans. LXXVII. 439 The muscles that open the eyelids..may be called the elevator, depressor, adductor, and abductor. 1828 Quain Elem. of Anat. (1848) I. ii. 412 The abductor of the great toe is placed horizontally along the inner side of the sole of the foot. 1872 Mivart Anatomy viii. 282 Some muscles move a bone away from a given axis, and are therefore termed abductors. |
2. One who abducts or illegally leads away. (A modern use, not in Todd 1818.)
| 1847 Craig, Abductor, one guilty of abduction. 1872 Daily News Nov. 6 The women themselves, most interested in the immunities of their sex, usually gave their sympathy to the abductors. |