0 a muscle that goes from the hyoid bone (= a bone in the neck) to the side of the tongue in order to pull down the side of the tongue --
The tongue retractor muscle, the hyoglossus, connects the hyoid and accelerator muscle, and is responsible for drawing the tongue back into the mouth following tongue projection.
This retraction is aided by the long sternoglossus muscle, which is formed by the fusion of the sternohyoid and the hyoglossus, and does not attach to the hyoid.
It is situated above the deep portion of the submandibular gland, on the hyoglossus muscle, near the posterior border of the mylohyoid muscle.
The lingual vein passes medial to the hyoglossus, and the lingual artery passes deep to the hyoglossus.
