Definitions

from The Century Dictionary.

  • noun In anatomy, an opponent muscle of the hand or foot of man and some anthropoid apes, lying on the inner or outer side of the hand or foot.

Etymologies

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Examples

  • One of the most important of these motions is that of the thumb as placed in opposition to the fingers, and effected by a muscle termed opponens pollicis.

    The Common Frog 1874

  • The same is the case with the apes, except that the Orang-utan has a small "opponens" attached to the great toe.

    The Common Frog 1874

  • Though the foot of man is furnished with many muscles, like the hand, yet not one of the toes is provided with an "opponens" or muscle, passing from the bones of the ankle to one or other of the bones of the middle of the foot, which latter are called metatarsals.

    The Common Frog 1874

  • An "opponens" muscle is one which passes from the bones of the wrist to one or other of the bones of the middle of the hand called metacarpals, and the opponens pollicis passes of course, as its name implies, to the metacarpal of the pollex or thumb.

    The Common Frog 1874

  • A child who sits in front of video games and only works out his opponens pollicis muscles† is going to be in far worse shape than the kid who plays tag, jumps all over the playground, creates a jungle gym out of couch pillows, and is enrolled in the local gymnastics class.

    You Raising Your Child Michael F. Roizen 2010

  • A child who sits in front of video games and only works out his opponens pollicis muscles† is going to be in far worse shape than the kid who plays tag, jumps all over the playground, creates a jungle gym out of couch pillows, and is enrolled in the local gymnastics class.

    You Raising Your Child Michael F. Roizen 2010

  • A child who sits in front of video games and only works out his opponens pollicis muscles† is going to be in far worse shape than the kid who plays tag, jumps all over the playground, creates a jungle gym out of couch pillows, and is enrolled in the local gymnastics class.

    You Raising Your Child Michael F. Roizen 2010

  • A child who sits in front of video games and only works out his opponens pollicis muscles† is going to be in far worse shape than the kid who plays tag, jumps all over the playground, creates a jungle gym out of couch pillows, and is enrolled in the local gymnastics class.

    You Raising Your Child Michael F. Roizen 2010

  • Claiming emotionalism for opponens, and declaring rationalism as a partisan attribute ends up demonizes opponents for irrational arguments; this is false.

    Bad News for Herbal Medicine? - Freakonomics Blog - NYTimes.com 2007

  • The same condition obtains in the apes, though in them the opponens of the thumb is smaller and weaker than in man.

    The Common Frog 1874

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