gristle

[gris-uh l]

noun

cartilage, especially in meats.

Origin of gristle

before 900; Middle English, Old English; cognate with Old Frisian, Middle Low German gristal; akin to Old English grost cartillage

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018

Examples from the Web for gristle

Contemporary Examples of gristle

Savor the perfectly pitched ear required to turn a simple phrase like “a dumpling, some knurled pouch of gristle.”
The Slacker Generation's Swift
Gerald Howard
March 3, 2010

Historical Examples of gristle

A knuckle requires more boiling in proportion to its weight, than any other joint, to render the gristle soft and tender.
The Cook and Housekeeper's Complete and Universal Dictionary; Including a System of Modern Cookery, in all Its Various Branches,
Mary Eaton
Jonadab weighs pretty close to two hundred, and most of it's gristle.
Cape Cod Stories
Joseph C. Lincoln
Does she wear a spritsail-yard through the gristle of her nose?
An Old Sailor's Yarns
Nathaniel Ames
We choose our dinner not by the wrappers, but by the veining and gristle of the meat within.
Pipefuls
Christopher Morley
The tiny hook is caught painlessly in the gristle of his jaw.
Days Off
Henry Van Dyke

British Dictionary definitions for gristle

gristle

noun

cartilage, esp when in meat

Derived Formsgristly, adjectivegristliness, noun

Word Origin for gristle

Old English gristle; related to Old Frisian, Middle Low German gristel

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Word Origin and History for gristle

Old English gristle "cartilage," related to grost "gristle," from a common West Germanic word (cf. Old Frisian and Middle Low German gristel, Old High German crostila, Middle High German gruschel) of obscure origin.