Anat. Also 8 tenar, thenor, tenor. [mod.L., a. Gr. θέναρ palm of the hand, sole or flat of the foot. Cf. OHG. tenar, MHG. tener; F. thénar (16th c.).] The ball of muscle at the base of the thumb; the palm of the hand; the sole of the foot.
1672. Sir T. Browne, Lett. to Friend, § 10. The Thenar or Muscle of the Thumb.
1704. J. Harris, Lex. Techn., I. Tenar,… Thenor, or Tenor, according to some, is the Name for an abducent Muscle which draws the Thumb from the Fore-finger.
1857. Dunglison, Med. Lex., Thenar, the palm of the hand, or sole of the foot.
b. attrib. or as adj. Thenar muscles, the muscles that form the thenar eminence, the ball at the base of the thumb.
1857. Dunglison, Med. Lex., Thenar or Thenal Muscle, Riolan and Winslow give this name to the fleshy mass, formed of the abductor brevis.
1898. P. Manson, Trop. Diseases, xiv. 224. So may the thenar, the hypothenar, and the arm muscles [be found tender].
1899. Allbutt’s Syst. Med., VII. 209. A distinct flattening of the thenar eminence.
