gristle
Americannoun
noun
Other Word Forms
Etymology
Origin of gristle
before 900; Middle English, Old English; cognate with Old Frisian, Middle Low German gristal; akin to Old English grost cartillage
Explanation
Gristle is a chewy, inedible part of meat. If there's too much gristle in your steak, you might send it back — or think seriously about becoming a vegetarian. Gristle is an unpleasant surprise in a bite of meat, a fibrous bit you may end up spitting in your napkin. It makes sense you can't chew it, since gristle is a type of connective tissue that's mainly found in ligaments and doesn't break down when it's cooked. Skilled cooks can easily cut out any gristle before cooking meat. In Old English, gristle simply meant "cartilage."
Vocabulary lists containing gristle
The House of the Scorpion
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Lyddie
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The Birchbark House
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Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
Food included a bean soup, rice and a meat dish—which he said was “bone gristle and a sort of oily residue.”
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 1, 2026
Set in the mid-18th century, it is a classic tale of haves and have-nots filled with gristle and grit, limitless horizons, scenes of suffering, reversals of fortune and cathartic recognition.
From New York Times ● Feb. 1, 2024
It’s the connective tissue — the gristle — between the kills that is seriously lacking.
From Los Angeles Times ● Nov. 15, 2023
And when that happens, those individuals — whether made of ink and paper or blood and gristle — should see specialists for examination and treatment.
From Seattle Times ● Sep. 22, 2023
He was hungry, and his meager diet had pared his body down to a feral scrawn of gristle and bone, but he seemed to be in reasonably good health.
From "Into the Wild" by Jon Krakauer
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
