levator (le-va'tor)

A muscle, the action of which is to raise a part. See table of muscles, under muscle. Hamilton's 1. A flat piece of steel, about half an inch broad, slightly curved, and sharpened at the end, for inserting under the edge of a bone and elevating it. 1. ani. A thin, broad muscle arising from the anterior and lateral portions of the inner surface of the true pelvis, the inferior ramus of the pubes and spine of the ischium and the pelvic fascia, uniting with its fellow of the opposite side, and inserted into the side of the lower portion of the coccyx, the side and lower portion of the rectum, and the fascia covering the prostate gland. Its lowermost fibers blend with those of the opposite side and the external and internal sphincters of the anus and the constrictor urethra forming, with the coccygeus, the floor or diaphragm of the pelvis. [Lat., levare, to lift up, to raise.]