Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • noun The larger of two muscles that originate in the lower spine. This muscle flexes the hip.
  • noun The smaller of two muscles that originate in the lower spine. This muscle flexes the lower spine.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • noun A muscle of the loins and pelvis; the tenderloin.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • noun (Anat.) An internal muscle arising from the lumbar vertebræ and inserted into the femur. In man there are usually two on each side, and the larger one, or great psoas, forms a part of the iliopsoas.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • noun anatomy Either of two muscles, the psoas major and psoas minor involved in flexion of the trunk

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • noun either of two muscles of the abdomen and pelvis that flex the trunk and rotate the thigh

Etymologies

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition

[New Latin, from Greek psoa.]

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Examples

  • Williams said then that she had hurt her "psoas" or hip flexor muscle.

    Injured Venus Williams withdraws from Australian Open Cindy Boren 2011

  • She later said she injured her "psoas" muscle, which flexes the hip and spinal column.

    The Globe and Mail - Home RSS feed 2011

  • Williams said the injury was in her "psoas" muscle, which flexes the hip and spinal column.

    The Seattle Times 2011

  • She later said she injured her "psoas" muscle, which flexes the hip and spinal column.

    Yahoo! News: Business - Opinion 2011

  • Having your legs bent under a desk all day shortens your hip flexors and psoas muscles, which attach to your pelvis and lower spine.

    To help kids maintain good posture, make it fun 2010

  • To make a long story short, you have tears in two muscles, the psoas and the quadratis lumborum.

    Zero Regrets Apolo Ohno 2010

  • To make a long story short, you have tears in two muscles, the psoas and the quadratis lumborum.

    Zero Regrets Apolo Ohno 2010

  • To make a long story short, you have tears in two muscles, the psoas and the quadratis lumborum.

    Zero Regrets Apolo Ohno 2010

  • To get the most amount of psoas stretch in this exercise it is crucial that you keep your elbow locked at all times.

    ChiRunning Danny Dreyer 2009

  • Stretches for the psoas are hard to come by, so I invented this one.

    ChiRunning Danny Dreyer 2009

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