pectoralis major

(noun)

A large, fan-shaped muscle of the chest.

Related Terms

  • Pectoralis Minor
  • deltoid
  • rotator cuff
  • trapezius

Examples of pectoralis major in the following topics:

  • Clavicle

    • At the medial end of the shaft the pectoralis major originates from the anterior surface, the posterior surface gives origin to the sternohyoid muscle and the superior surface the sternocleidomastoid muscle.
    • Muscle attachment sites (pectoralis major, subclavius muscle, deltoid, and sterno-hyoid) are highlighted.
  • Muscles of the Shoulder

    • Pectoralis Major – The pectoralis major is a large, fan-shaped muscle covering the chest.
    • Pectoralis Minor – The pectoralis minor muscle is smaller and lies beneath the pectoralis major.
    • Produced by the biceps brachii (both heads), pectoralis major, anterior deltoid, and corocobrachialis.
    • Produced by contraction of pectoralis major, latissimus dorsi, and teres major.
    • Produced by contraction of subscapularis, pectoralis major, latissimus dorsi, teres major, and anterior deltoid.
  • Anterior Muscles

    • Pectoralis Major – The pectoralis major is a fan-shaped muscle covering the chest and comprised of clavicular and sternocostal regions.
    • Pectoralis Minor – The smaller pectoralis minor muscle lies beneath the pectoralis major.
    • Attachments – The pectoralis minor originates from the third to fifth ribs and attaches to the scapula.
  • How Skeletal Muscles Are Named

    • The pectoralis major found in the chest is an example of a convergent muscle, and is responsible for flexing the upper arm.
  • Intercostal Nerves

    • Near the sternum, they cross in front of the internal mammary artery and transversus thoracis muscle, pierce the intercostales interni, the anterior intercostal membranes, and pectoralis major, and supply the integument of the front of the thorax and over the mamma, forming the anterior cutaneous branches of the thorax.
  • Characteristics of Birds

    • Flapping of the entire wing occurs primarily through the actions of the chest muscles: the pectoralis and the supracoracoideus.
  • Mammary Glands

    • Pectoralis muscles 3.
  • Music in a Minor Key

    • Each major key uses a different set of notes (its major scale).
    • In each major scale, however, the notes are arranged in the same major scale pattern and build the same types of chords that have the same relationships with each other.
    • (See Beginning Harmonic Analysis for more on this. ) So music that is in, for example, C major, will not sound significantly different from music that is in, say, D major.
    • So you can't, for example, transpose a piece from C major to D minor (or even to C minor) without changing it a great deal.
    • To hear some simple examples in both major and minor keys, see Major Keys and Scales.
  • Relative Minor and Major Keys

    • Each minor key shares a key signature with a major key.
    • It is easy to predict where the relative minor of a major key can be found.
    • (If the patterns were very different, minor key signatures would not be the same as major key signatures. ) The pattern for the minor scale starts a half step plus a whole step lower than the major scale pattern, so a relative minor is always three half steps lower than its relative major.
    • What are the relative majors of the minor keys in Figure 4.23?
    • C minor is the relative minor of E flat major.
  • Sociology Majors

    • Thus, there is no particular "personality type" among sociology majors.
    • The average graduating sociology major is a young female (early 20s) who is white and single.
    • Less than half of the parents of sociology majors have baccalaureate degrees of their own.
    • Many sociology majors choose the major because they found their first exposure to the discipline engaging (usually through an introductory course).
    • Only 7% of sociology majors choose the discipline because it appears easy, and relatively few (5%) choose it because the major they wanted was unavailable.
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