trapezius
[truh-pee-zee-uh s]
- a broad, flat muscle on each side of the upper and back part of the neck, shoulders, and back, the action of which raises, or rotates, or draws back the shoulders, and pulls the head backward or to one side.
Origin of trapezius
1685–95; < New Latin, short for trapezius musculus trapeziform muscle
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018
Examples from the Web for trapezius
Contemporary Examples
The bullet tore through my voice box and larynx before lodging itself in my trapezius.
15 Rounds and Still Talking: Lt. Brian Murphy’s Story of the Oak Creek MassacreSimran Jeet Singh
August 5, 2013
Also, he lifted weights with his teeth to bulk up his neck and trapezius muscles.
Historical Examples
Bradford inserts a portion of the trapezius into the humeral insertion of the deltoid.
In time other muscles compensate in part for the loss of the trapezius.
The next muscles to become stiff and painful are those of the neck, especially the sterno-mastoid and trapezius.
Manual of SurgeryAlexis Thomson and Alexander Miles
A not infrequent accompaniment is a shrug of one or both shoulders, due to synergic contraction of the trapezius.
Tics and Their TreatmentHenry Meigne
trapezius
- either of two flat triangular muscles, one covering each side of the back and shoulders, that rotate the shoulder blades
Word Origin
C18: from New Latin trapezius (musculus) trapezium-shaped (muscle)
Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition
© William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins
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Word Origin and History for trapezius
n.
1704, from Modern Latin trapezius (musculus), masc. adjective from trapezium (see trapezium).
Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper