[a. mod.L. abductor, n. of agent, f. abdūc-ĕre: see ABDUCE and -OR. Adopted in Eng. from the language of anatomy.]
1. Anat. A muscle which serves to draw any part of the body from its normal position, or from the median line of the body. (Often treated as Lat. with pl. abductōr-es.) Also attrib. with muscle.
1615. H. Crooke, Body of Man, 743. For euery Muscle almost hath set unto him another, whose action is contrary to his as … to an adductor is set an abductor.
1713. Derham, Physico.-Theol., V. ii. 327. By being inserted into one of the Sesamoid Bones of the great Toe, diverts the Power of the Abductor Muscle.
1787. Hunter, in Phil. Trans., LXXVII. 439. The muscles that open the eyelids … may be called the elevator, depressor, adductor, and abductor.
1828. Quain, Elem. of Anat. (1848), I. II. 412. The abductor of the great toe is placed horizontally along the inner side of the sole of the foot.
1872. Mivart, Anatomy, viii. 282. Some muscles move a bone away from a given axis, and are therefore termed abductors.
2. One who abducts or illegally leads away. (A modern use, not in Todd, 1818.)
1847. Craig, Abductor, one guilty of abduction.
1872. Daily News, Nov. 6. The women themselves, most interested in the immunities of their sex, usually gave their sympathy to the abductors.
