levator labiorum

levator labiorum (plural levatores labiorum or levatores labiorums)

1. One of the facial muscles that lift the lips, open the mouth, and flare the nostrils.
   • 1810, John Bell, Engravings of the Bones, Muscles, and Joints, page 58:

     The Occipito Forntalis wrinkles the forehead; the Corrugator Supercilii knits the brow; the Levatores Labiorums lift up the lip, spread wide the nostrils, and open the mouth; […]

   • 1829, Charles Bell, “On the nerves of the face; being a second paper on that subject”, in Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society:

     The Ramus Buccinalis-labialis, that branch of the fifth nerve which goes to the buccinator, triangularis, levator labiorum, and orbicularis muscles.

   • 1936, Medical Classics - Volume 1, page 162:

     The prolonged branch is the labial division; it runs nearer the alveolar processes of the lower jaw, and becomes so superficial as to admit a union with the portio dura: from thence passing under the facial artery it may be traced into the triangularis or depressor anguli oris, the levator labiorum communis, and the lateral portion of the orbicularis oris.