Pl. -ers, also ǁ -eres. [a. Gr. κρεμαστήρ suspender (or spec. in Anatomy, as in sense 1), f. κρεμα- to hang.]
1. Anat. The muscle of the spermatic cord, by which the testicle is suspended.
1678. Phillips, Cremaster, the Muscle, that holds up the Stones.
a. 1693. Urquhart, Rabelais, III. xxvi. 218.
1842. E. Wilson, Anat. Vade M., 187. The Cremaster, considered as a distinct muscle, arises from the middle of Poupart’s ligament.
1881. Mivart, Cat, 243. One delicate layer … forming what is known as the cremaster muscle.
2. Entom. A name given by Kirby to the hook-like processes on the posterior extremity, by which many lepidopterous chrysalids suspend themselves; extended to the dorsal process or tip of the abdomen of the pupa of any insect that undergoes complete metamorphosis.
1888. Rolleston & Jackson, Anim. Life, 153. Pupa of Privet Hawk Moth … The tenth somite … bears … the cremaster … covered with spines which vary much in different specimens.
