ppl. a. [ad. L. abdūcent-em pr. pple. of abdūc-ĕre: see ABDUCE.] Drawing away or out. Used chiefly in anatomy, as the opposite of adducent.
1713. Derham, Physico-Theol., IV. ii. [This] is the case of the adducent and abducent muscles [of the eye].
1751. Chambers, Cycl., s.v. Abductor, or Abducent in anatomy, a name common to several muscles whose action is the withdrawing, opening, or pulling back, the parts they are fixed to.
1875. Encycl. Brit. (ed. 9), I. 881. The Abducent or sixth nerve springs out of the groove between the lower border of the pons and the anterior pyramid of the medulla oblongata.
