Anat. [mod.L., f. Gr. σπληνίον: cf. SPLENIAL a.1] A broad muscle, or either of the two portions (the splenius capitis and colli) composing it, which occupies the upper part of the back of the neck and is attached to the occipital bone.
1732. A. Monro, Anat. (ed. 2), 111. Some tendinous Fibres of the Complexi and Splenii. Ibid. In the Depression on each side … the Splenius is inserted.
1831. R. Knox, Cloquet’s Anat., 249. The splenius extends the head, inclining it laterally, and impresses upon it a rotatory motion which turns the face to one side.
1873. Mivart, Elem. Anat., 290. The splenius is placed obliquely in the neck.
attrib. 1835–6. Todd’s Cycl. Anat., I. 748/1. The sternomastoid and splenius muscles.
