hypoglossal nerve

American  

noun

Anatomy.

1. either one of the twelfth pair of cranial nerves, consisting of motor fibers that innervate the muscles of the tongue.

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hypoglossal nerve British  

noun

1. the twelfth cranial nerve, which supplies the muscles of the tongue

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Etymology

Origin of hypoglossal nerve

First recorded in 1840–50

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

hypoglossal nerve

The hypoglossal nerve is responsible for controlling the muscles of the lower throat and tongue.

From Textbooks ● Jun. 19, 2013

The hypoglossal nerve is the motor nerve that controls the muscles of the tongue, except for the palatoglossus muscle, which is controlled by the vagus nerve.

From Textbooks ● Jun. 19, 2013

Paralysis of the tongue—unilateral or bilateral—may be due to injury or disease of the nerve centres of the hypoglossal nerve, more frequently to injury of or pressure on the nerve-trunk.

From Manual of Surgery Volume Second: Extremities—Head—Neck. Sixth Edition. by Miles, Alexander

It is seen curving round anterior to the hypoglossal nerve, and lying rather deeper in dissection.

From Text Book of Biology, Part 1: Vertebrata by Wells, H. G. (Herbert George)

These—as indicated by their supply from a branch of the hypoglossal nerve, which descends on either side of the trachea—are, so to speak, a detached, now mostly independent colony of glosso-pharyngeal muscles.

From Encyclopaedia Britannica, 11th Edition, Volume 3, Slice 7 "Bible" to "Bisectrix" by Various