muscle
Language: English
Part of speech: noun
Pronunciation: enpr: mŭʹsəl
ipa: /ˈmʌs.əl/
ipa: [ˈmʌs.l̩]
homophone: mussel
rhymes: -ʌsəl
Forms: form: muscles
form: muscule
Etymology: From Middle English muscle, muscule, muskylle, and in part from Middle French muscle, from Latin mūsculus (“a muscle”, literally “little mouse”) because of the mouselike appearance of some muscles, from mūs (“mouse”). Doublet of mussel. More at mouse.
Senses: examples: text: Muscle consists largely of actin and myosin filaments.
text: For as the Trunk of the Body, is kept from tilting forvvard by the Muſcules of the Back: So, from falling backvvard, by theſe of the Belly.
ref: 1701, Nehemiah Grew, “Of the Use of Organized Bodies”, in Cosmologia Sacra: Or A Discourse of the Universe as It is the Creature and Kingdom of God. […], London: […] W[illiam] Rogers, S[amuel] Smith, and B[enjamin] Walford: […], →OCLC, 1st book, paragraph 18, page 27:
synonyms: thew
glosses: A contractile form of tissue which animals use to effect movement.
examples: text: His brow and hair and the palms of his hands were wet, and there was a kind of nervous contraction of his muscles. They seemed to ripple and string tense.
ref: 1912 January, Zane Grey, chapter VIII, in Riders of the Purple Sage […], New York, N.Y.; London: Harper & Brothers Publishers, →OCLC:
text: You, Boxer, the very day that those great muscles of yours lose their power, Jones will sell you to the knacker […]
ref: 1943 November – 1944 February (date written; published 1945 August 17), George Orwell [pseudonym; Eric Arthur Blair], Animal Farm […], London: Secker & Warburg, published May 1962, →OCLC:
glosses: An organ composed of muscle tissue.
examples: 2008, Lou Schuler, "Foreward", in Nate Green, Built for Show, page xii
The fact that I was middle-aged, bald, married, and raising girls instead of chasing them didn't really bother me. Muscles are cool at any age.
glosses: A well-developed physique, in which the muscles are enlarged from exercise.
examples: text: The widely-backed campaign to recall Evan Mecham as governor of Arizona gained even more muscle when the state House of Representatives voted to impeach the ultraconservative on February 5.
ref: 1988 February 14, Elizabeth Pincus, “Arizona Impeaches Right-Wing Governor”, in Gay Community News, volume 15, number 30, page 1:
text: The lesson to be drawn from the events of 1914, to Roosevelt's mind, was that civilization needed muscle to defend it, not just solemn words.
ref: 2010, Adam Quinn, US Foreign Policy in Context, page 81:
text: It was going to take muscle to pluck Miss Agnes out of the canal.
ref: 2013, John D. MacDonald, The Long Lavender Look, page 15:
text: How can the unions - or more specifically the RMT—possibly think this is a good time to exert a bit of industrial muscle and indulge in strikes both on the national railway and the London Underground?
ref: 2022 January 12, Christian Wolmar, “A new year... but the same old mistakes are being made”, in RAIL, number 948, pages 40–41:
glosses: Strength, force.
examples: text: It was easy enough to dodge him, let him crash into the floorboards. Peltroc knew that his priority was the leader, not the hired muscle.
ref: 1985, Lance Parkin, The Infinity Doctors, page 34:
glosses: Hired strongmen or bodyguards.
Hypernyms: sense: tissue or organ
word: musculature
Hyponyms: topics: anatomy
medicine
sciences
word: abdominal muscle
topics: anatomy
medicine
sciences
word: abdominoscrotal muscle
topics: anatomy
medicine
sciences
word: abducens muscle
topics: anatomy
medicine
sciences
word: anterior auricular muscle
topics: anatomy
medicine
sciences
word: anterior scalene muscle
topics: anatomy
medicine
sciences
word: arytenoid muscle
topics: anatomy
medicine
sciences
word: auricular muscle
topics: anatomy
medicine
sciences
word: caninus muscle
topics: anatomy
medicine
sciences
word: cardiac muscle
topics: anatomy
medicine
sciences
word: ciliary muscle
topics: anatomy
medicine
sciences
word: cricoarytenoid muscle
topics: anatomy
medicine
sciences
word: cricothyroid muscle
topics: anatomy
medicine
sciences
word: deltoideus muscle
topics: anatomy
medicine
sciences
word: deltoid muscle
topics: anatomy
medicine
sciences
word: digastric muscle
topics: anatomy
medicine
sciences
word: external oblique muscle
topics: anatomy
medicine
sciences
word: extraocular muscle
topics: anatomy
medicine
sciences
word: geniohyoid muscle
topics: anatomy
medicine
sciences
word: heart muscle
topics: anatomy
medicine
sciences
word: inferior oblique muscle
topics: anatomy
medicine
sciences
word: internal oblique muscle
topics: anatomy
medicine
sciences
word: involuntary muscle
topics: anatomy
medicine
sciences
word: iris dilator muscle
topics: anatomy
medicine
sciences
word: jaw muscle
topics: anatomy
medicine
sciences
word: lateral cricoarytenoid muscle
topics: anatomy
medicine
sciences
word: lateral pterygoid muscle
topics: anatomy
medicine
sciences
word: masseter muscle
topics: anatomy
medicine
sciences
word: medial pterygoid muscle
topics: anatomy
medicine
sciences
word: middle scalene muscle
topics: anatomy
medicine
sciences
word: Molson muscle
topics: anatomy
medicine
sciences
word: Müller's muscle
topics: anatomy
medicine
sciences
word: muscle of mastication
topics: anatomy
medicine
sciences
word: mylohyoid muscle
topics: anatomy
medicine
sciences
word: oblique muscle
topics: anatomy
medicine
sciences
word: omohyoid muscle
topics: anatomy
medicine
sciences
word: papillary muscle
topics: anatomy
medicine
sciences
word: pectoral muscle
topics: anatomy
medicine
sciences
word: posterior auricular muscle
topics: anatomy
medicine
sciences
word: posterior cricoarytenoid muscle
topics: anatomy
medicine
sciences
word: posterior scalene muscle
topics: anatomy
medicine
sciences
word: pterygoid muscle
topics: anatomy
medicine
sciences
word: rectus abdominis muscle
topics: anatomy
medicine
sciences
word: rectus muscle
topics: anatomy
medicine
sciences
word: scalene muscle
topics: anatomy
medicine
sciences
word: shaving muscle
topics: anatomy
medicine
sciences
word: skeletal muscle
topics: anatomy
medicine
sciences
word: smooth muscle
topics: anatomy
medicine
sciences
word: sternocleidomastoid muscle
topics: anatomy
medicine
sciences
word: sternohyoid muscle
topics: anatomy
medicine
sciences
word: sternothyroid muscle
topics: anatomy
medicine
sciences
word: striated muscle
topics: anatomy
medicine
sciences
word: striped muscle
topics: anatomy
medicine
sciences
word: stylohyoid muscle
topics: anatomy
medicine
sciences
word: superior auricular muscle
topics: anatomy
medicine
sciences
word: superior oblique muscle
topics: anatomy
medicine
sciences
word: superior tarsal muscle
topics: anatomy
medicine
sciences
word: tailor's muscle
topics: anatomy
medicine
sciences
word: temporal muscle
topics: anatomy
medicine
sciences
word: temporoparietalis muscle
topics: anatomy
medicine
sciences
word: thyroarytenoid muscle
topics: anatomy
medicine
sciences
word: thyrohyoid muscle
topics: anatomy
medicine
sciences
word: triangularis muscle
topics: anatomy
medicine
sciences
word: voluntary muscle
word: Types of muscles: see also Category:en:Muscles
Derived terms: beer muscles
delayed onset muscle soreness
delayed-onset muscle soreness
gym muscles
hired muscle
hypermuscle
intermuscle
love muscle
make a muscle
mind-muscle connection
muscle ass
Muscle Beach
musclebike
muscleblind
musclebound
muscle-bound
muscle boy
musclebrain
muscle car
muscle confusion
muscled
muscledom
muscled up
muscle dysmorphia
muscle-eye-brain disease
muscle fiber
muscle fibre
muscleful
musclegirl
muscle girl
muscle god
musclehead
muscle head
muscleless
musclelike
muscleman
muscle man
muscle Mary
muscle memory
muscle mommy
muscle morph
muscle queen
muscle-queen
muscle reading
muscle relaxant
muscle segment
muscle shirt
musclesome
muscle spindle
muscle tone
muscle woman
musclewoman
musclewood
muscle worship
muscley
muscly
muscular
muscularity
musculature
nonmuscle
on the muscle
white muscle disease
Related terms: myology
myotomy