a. [f. L. type *ciliāri-us, f. cilium: cf. F. ciliaire, and see -ARY.]
1. Of or pertaining to the eyelids or eyelashes.
Ciliary body: the thickening of the anterior part of the choroid membrane. Ciliary circle: = Ciliary muscle. Ciliary, ganglion: a ganglion situated at the back part of the orbit between the optic nerve and the external rectus muscle; the lenticular or ophthalmic ganglion. Ciliary ligament: the tissue connecting the edge of the iris with the choroid. Ciliary muscle or circle: unstriped muscular fibers situated beneath the sclero-corneal junction behind the iris and around the margin of the lens. Ciliary processes: the folds or plaits into which the anterior part of the choroid membrane is gathered around the crystalline lens. Ciliary zone: ‘the appearance which the pigment between the ciliary processes leaves on the hyaloid membrane, like the disc of a flower’ (Syd. Soc. Lex.).
1691. Ray, Creation, II. (1701), 261. The ciliary processes or rather the ligaments observed in the inside of the sclerotic tunicles … serve instead of a muscle by their contraction to alter the figure of the eye.
1741. A. Monro, Anat. Nerves (ed. 3), 41. The In-side of the Eye as far forwards as the ciliary Circle.
1793. Young, Vision, in Phil. Trans., LXXXIII. 171. The contraction of the ciliary zone is equally inadequate and unnecessary.
1803. Med. Jrnl., IX. 240. The ciliary plexus, which is in part formed from the first branch of the fifth pair of nerves.
1831. R. Knox, Cloquet’s Anat., 547. Meibomian Glands or Ciliary Follicles. These are small round follicles, lodged in particular grooves, between the tarsal cartilages and the tunica conjunctiva.
1833. Brewster, Nat. Magic, ii. 36. A proof that the retina retains its power to its very termination near the ciliary processes.
1836–9. Todd, Cycl. Anat., II. 282/1. The ciliary nerves all penetrate the sclerotic coat of the eye separately and obliquely.
1872. Huxley, Physiol., ix. 228. The so-called ciliary ligament.
1879. Harlan, Eyesight, iii. 41. The ciliary muscle does for the eye what the adjusting screw does for the opera glass.
2. Pertaining to, or caused by, cilia (sense 3); esp. Ciliary motion: the vibratile motion of the cilia, also locomotion by the vibration of the cilia.
1835–6. Todd, Cycl. Anat., I. 609/1. The ciliary motion has been … observed in the embryo of Infusoria.
1879. Cassell’s Techn. Educ., IV. 154/1. The oyster is observed … by means of the ciliary organs … to create a continuous current of water.
1880. Bastian, Brain, 71. Their food being brought to the commencement of the alimentary canal by ciliary action.
