before a vowel stern-, combining form repr. Gr. στέρνον or L. STERNUM, occurring in several terms, chiefly of anatomy, usually denoting muscles, etc., connected with the sternum and some other part. (Many of these are found in Fr.: see Littré.) ǁ Sternalgia [Gr. ἄλγος pain], pain in the region of the sternum; spec. a synonym for angina pectoris; hence Sternalgic a., pertaining to or affected with sternalgia. Sternoclavicular a., pertaining to or connecting the sternum and clavicle. Sternocleidomastoid a. [Gr. κλειδ-, κλείς key, clavicle + MASTOID], connecting the sternum, the clavicle, and the mastoid process of the temporal bone; applied to each of two muscles of the neck which serve to turn and nod the head; also as sb. (Also in L. form -oideus, pl. -oidei.) Sternocostal a. [L. costa rib], pertaining to or connecting the sternum and the ribs. Sterno-glossal a. [Gr. γλῶσσα tongue], pertaining to or connecting the sternum and the tongue, as the long retractor muscle of the tongue in the great ant-eater; also as sb. Sternohyoid a., pertaining to or connecting the sternum and the hyoid bone; name of each of two muscles serving to depress the larynx; also as sb. † Sternomancy [-MANCY; cf. F. sternomantie (Rabelais)], divination by the breast-bone. † Sternomastic a. = next. Sternomastoid a., pertaining to or connecting the sternum and the mastoid process of the temporal bone; applied to the sternocleidomastoid muscle, or the part of it connected with the sternum (cf. CLEIDOMASTOID); also to an artery supplying this muscle; also as sb. (sc. muscle). Sternomaxillary a. [L. maxilla jaw], pertaining to or connecting the sternum and lower jaw-bone, as the sternomastoid muscle in the horse. Sternonuchal a., pertaining to the sternum and the nape of the neck. Sternopericardiac, -al adjs., pertaining to or connecting the sternum and the pericardium. Sternothere, Zool., a tortoise of the genus Sternothærus [Gr. θαιρός hinge], characterized by a hinged plastron. Sternothyroid a., pertaining to or connecting the sternum and the thyroid cartilage (also † sternothyroeidal); also as sb. (sc. muscle). Sternotribe a. Bot. [Gr. τρίβειν to rub], applied to flowers adapted for cross-fertilization by insects, in which the stamens and styles are so arranged as to touch the breast of the insect. Sterno-vertebral a., connected with the sternum and the vertebrae.
1822–9. Good’s Study Med. (ed. 3), I. 660. I have … been under the necessity of giving it a new denomination…, hence the above name of *Sternalgia. Ibid., II. 443. The pain and struggle … sometimes resemble the signs of sternalgia or angina pectoris.
1840. Owen, in Penny Cycl., XVIII. 257/2. For what purpose … were *sterno-clavicular and coracoid arches assigned to the Ichthyosaurus?
1887. Brit. Med. Jrnl., I. 279. The angle of the right jaw rested on the sterno-clavicular notch.
1826. S. Cooper, First Lines Surg. (ed. 5), 408. A rigid contraction of one of the *sterno-cleidomastoidei.
1831. R. Knox, Cloquet’s Anat., 27. The aponeuroses of the large pectoral and sterno-cleido-mastoid muscles.
1899. Allbutt’s Syst. Med., VIII. 41. The muscles of the tongue, the masseters, and sterno-cleido-mastoids.
1785. Cullen, Instit. Med., I. (ed. 3), 142. The *sterno-costal and infra-costal muscles.
1862. H. W. Fuller, Dis. Chest, 5. The second sterno-costal articulation.
1891. Century Dict., *Sternoglossal.
[1693. trans. Blancard’s Phys. Dict. (ed. 2), *Sternohyoides.
1843. Wilkinson, trans. Swedenborg’s Anim. Kingd., I. i. 20. The sterno-hyoideus.]
1872. Mivart, Elem. Anat., 287. The sterno-hyoid muscle is a long band which springs from within the sternum or clavicle, and goes to the basi-hyoid.
1875. W. Turner, in Encycl. Brit., I. 836/2. The hyoid bone and larynx … can be … drawn downwards by the action of the sterno-hyoids, [etc.].
1652. Gaule, Magastrom., xix. 165. *Sternomancy.
1693. Urquhart’s Rabelais, III. xxv. Sternomancy … maketh nothing for thy Advantage, for thou has an ill proportion’d Stomach.
1745. Gentl. Mag., XV. 312/1. Behind the *sternomastic muscles.
1835–6. Todd’s Cycl. Anat., I. 746/1. The *sterno-mastoid and splenius muscles.
1846. Brittan, trans. Malgaigne’s Man. Oper. Surg., 114. The anterior surface of this [sc. the mastoid] process and the corresponding border of the sterno-mastoid should be grazed.
1880. Barwell, Aneurism, 72. The sternal and clavicular portions of both sterno-mastoids were widely separated. Ibid., 106. The right sterno-mastoid muscle.
1871. Huxley, Anat. Vert. Anim., 353. The anterior portion of the sternomastoid is fixed to the mandible, and thus becomes *‘sternomaxillary.’
1899. Allbutt’s Syst. Med., VI. 865. *Sterno-nuchal or 4th cervical area.
1877. W. Turner, Introd. Hum. Anat., II. 396. The *sterno-pericardiac ligaments of Luschka.
1901. Dorland, Med. Dict. (ed. 2), *Sternopericardial.
1876. Nature, XIV. 17/2. Four Blackish *Sternotheres (Sternotherus subniger) from Madagascar.
[1693. trans. Blancard’s Phys. Dict. (ed. 2), *Sternothuroeides, a pair of Muscles of the Cartilago Scutiformis, which draw it downward: They arise from the uppermost and inward part of the Breast-Bone.]
1840. E. Wilson, Anat. Vade M. (1842), 111. The sterno-thyroid muscles.
1872. Humphry, Myology, 111. Occasional inscriptions in the sterno-hyoid and sterno-thyroid.
1681. trans. Willis’ Rem. Med. Wks., Vocab., *Sternothyroeidal muscle.
1861. R. E. Grant, Tabular View Rec. Zool., 18. False ribs anterior to the *sterno-vertebral ribs.
