platysma
[pluh-tiz-muh]
- a broad, thin muscle on each side of the neck, extending from the upper part of the shoulder to the corner of the mouth, the action of which wrinkles the skin of the neck and depresses the corner of the mouth.
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Origin of platysma
1685–95; < New Latin < Greek plátysma a plate, literally, something wide and flat, equivalent to platý(nein) to widen (derivative of platýs; see platy-) + -sma, variant of -ma resultative suffix
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018
Examples from the Web for platysma
Historical Examples
If so, perhaps the platysma could be observed in such cases.
Several persons have pointed out my error about the platysma.
More Letters of Charles Darwin Volume IICharles Darwin
The Professor tells me there is a muscular slip, a dependence of the platysma myoides, which is called the risorius Santorini.
The Autocrat of the Breakfast-TableOliver Wendell Holmes
In all cases the contraction of the platysma causes the wound to gape widely, and its edges tend to be turned in.
In only four of the cases was the platysma visibly contracted; and it did not begin to contract until the patients began to cry.
The Expression of Emotion in Man and AnimalsCharles Darwin
platysma
(plə-tĭz′mə)- A platelike muscle in the neck extending to the lower face with origin from the subcutaneous layer and fascia covering the greater pectoral and deltoid muscles at the level of the first or second rib, with insertion to the mandible, the risorius muscle and platysma of the opposite side, with nerve supply from a branch of the facial nerve, and whose action depresses the lower lip and wrinkles the skin of the neck and the upper chest.
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The American Heritage® Stedman's Medical Dictionary
Copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Company.