a. (sb.) [ad. mod.L. superciliāris, f. supercilium: see SUPERCILIUM and -ARY2. Cf. F. sourcilier.] Of or pertaining to the eyebrow, or to the region of the eyebrow; supra-orbital.
Superciliary arch or ridge, a prominence of the frontal bone, over the eye, produced by the development of the frontal sinuses; also, in various animals, a prominence consisting of the projecting upper edge of the orbit itself.
1732. Monro, Anat. Bones, II. (ed. 2), 86. The Foramina, or Holes,… of the frontal Bone,… one in each superciliary Ridge [etc.]. Ibid. The superciliary Foramina,… often instead of a Hole, a Notch only is to be seen.
1733. G. Douglas, trans. Winslow’s Anat. (1756), I. 22. On the Outside [of the Os Frontis] we observe the following Eminences; two superciliary Arches, which form the upper Edge of each Orbit, or the Supercilia.
1813. Prichard, Phys. Hist. Man, sz. The superciliary arches scarcely to be perceived.
1831. R. Knox, Cloquet’s Anat., 667. The Supra-orbitar or Superciliary Artery…. Arrived at the base of the orbit, after furnishing some minute ramifications to the periosteum and the two muscles above mentioned, it issues from that cavity by the superciliary notch.
1871. Darwin, Desc. Man, II. xix. 316. The superciliary ridge is generally more strongly marked in man than in woman.
b. Situated over the eye; also transf. having a marking over the eye (cf. SUPERCILIOUS 3 b).
1872. Coues, N. Amer. Birds, 19. Forehead,… middle head or crown … hind head, or occiput. The lateral border of all three together constitutes the ‘superciliary line,’ that is, line over the eye.
1888. P. L. Sclater, Argentine Ornith., I. 51. Above grey, slight superciliary mark whitish.
B. sb. A superciliary ridge or marking.
1864. Thurnam, in Mem. Anthrop. Soc., I. 144. The superciliaries are well marked, the orbits rather small.
1888. P. L. Sclater, Argentine Ornith., I. 97. Distinct superciliaries white.
