Definitions

from The Century Dictionary.

  • noun The stapedial muscle; a muscle of the tympanum actuating the stapes of some animals.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • noun The smallest skeletal muscle in the human body, serving to stabilize the stapes.

Etymologies

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Examples

  • The stapes first appears as a ring (annulus stapedius) encircling a small vessel, the stapedial artery, which subsequently undergoes atrophy; it is ossified from a single center which appears in its base.

    X. The Organs of the Senses and the Common Integument. 1d. The Organ of Hearing 1918

  • The Nerve to the Stapedius (n. stapedius; tympanic branch) arises opposite the pyramidal eminence (page 1042); it passes through a small canal in this eminence to reach the muscle.

    IX. Neurology. 5g. The Facial Nerve 1918

  • Equally important are the two tiny muscles, the tensor tympani (hammer muscle) and stapedius (stirrup muscle).

    Recently Uploaded Slideshows scollins77 2009

  • Webster’s original hypothesis formulated in 1974 about the cause of the disorder centered on two tiny middle ear muscles known as the tensor tympani and the stapedius, which are neurologically coordinated with the larynx and which contract a fraction of a second before the start of phonation to protect the inner ear from the blast of one’s own voice.

    Knotted Tongues Benson Bobrick 1995

  • Webster’s original hypothesis formulated in 1974 about the cause of the disorder centered on two tiny middle ear muscles known as the tensor tympani and the stapedius, which are neurologically coordinated with the larynx and which contract a fraction of a second before the start of phonation to protect the inner ear from the blast of one’s own voice.

    Knotted Tongues Benson Bobrick 1995

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