(anatomy) A muscle arising from the transverse processes of the third to sixth cervical vertebrae, inserting on the scalene tubercle of the first rib, and functioning to bend the neck forward and laterally and to rotate it to the side.

(anatomy) A long slender digastric muscle which arises from the upper border of the shoulder blade and passes obliquely along the side and front of the neck to the lower border of the body of the hyoid bone, and acts to draw the hyoid bone in a caudal direction.

(anatomy) An infrahyoid muscle on each side of the midline that arises from the medial end of the clavicle and the first segment of the sternum, inserts into the body of the hyoid bone, and acts to depress the hyoid bone and the larynx.

(anatomy) An infrahyoid muscle on each side of the body below the sternohyoid muscle that arises from the sternum and from the cartilage of the first and sometimes of the second ribs, inserts into the thyroid cartilage, and acts to draw the larynx downward by depressing the thyroid cartilage.

(anatomy) A slender muscle that arises from the posterior surface of the styloid process of the temporal bone, inserts into the body of the hyoid bone, and acts to elevate and retract the hyoid bone resulting in elongation of the floor of the mouth.

(anatomy) A broad, thin muscle that arises especially from the thyroid cartilage, inserts into the arytenoid cartilage, and functions to relax and shorten the vocal cords by drawing the arytenoid cartilage forward and to narrow the rima glottidis by rotating the arytenoid cartilage inward causing the vocal cords to approach each other.

(anatomy) A small quadrilateral muscle that arises from the thyroid cartilage, inserts into the thyrohyal of the hyoid bone, and functions to depress the hyoid bone and to elevate the thyroid cartilage.

(obsolete, slang) To treat roughly. / Used other than figuratively or idiomatically: see muss, up.

A kind of military band whose main instruments are the drum, flute, fife, and bugle. / The military music played by such a band.

simple past tense and past participle of muscle in