n :  a ribbonlike muscle of the palate that arises from the scaphoid fossa, from the spine of the sphenoid bone, and from the lateral cartilaginous wall of the eustachian tube, that is attached by a tendon which hooks around the pterygoid plate of the sphenoid bone to insert esp. into the soft palate, and that acts esp. to tense the soft palate .
 
 
 
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