a. Anat. [f. Gr. κρόταφος, pl. -οι the temples; cf. F. crotaphique.] Of or pertaining to the temples, temporal. Crotaphite a. [F. crotaphite (16th c. Paré), Gr. κροταφίτης], temporal, as in ‘crotaphite arteries’; † sb. the temporal muscle (obs.). Crotaphitic a., temporal, as in ‘crotaphitic nerve,’ the superior maxillary division of the fifth cerebral nerve.
1653. Urquhart, Rabelais, I. xxv. The crotaphick artery.
1656. Blount, Glossogr., Crotaphites, the two muscles of the temples.
1713. Cheselden, Anat., III. xv. (1726), 254. Under the crotaphyte muscle.
1841. Cruveilhier, Anat., I. 311. The temporal muscle … or crotaphyte, so named because it occupies the whole of the temporal fossa.
1839. Todd, Cycl. Anat., II. 271/2. The ‘crotaphitic’ and … the ‘buccinator’ nerves.
