heartstrings

[ hahrt-stringz ]

plural noun
  1. the deepest feelings; the strongest affections: to tug at one's heartstrings.

Origin of heartstrings

1
First recorded in 1475–85; heart + strings

Words Nearby heartstrings

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2024

How to use heartstrings in a sentence

  • Say what you will, though, he never tried to tug at our heartstrings by making Marlowe an orphan.

    Can Pulp Win the Booker? | Allen Barra | September 7, 2011 | THE DAILY BEAST
  • Sometimes I see tabloid stuff online and it tugs at my heartstrings.

  • She saw that her duty was before her; she must nerve herself and face it, though it tore her heartstrings.

    Love's Pilgrimage | Upton Sinclair
  • Three or four horrible suggestions arose in succession to jerk at her heartstrings.

    Overland | John William De Forest
  • The thoughts of this orphan boy clung to her heartstrings with a fondness for which she herself was unable to account.

    The Abbot | Sir Walter Scott

British Dictionary definitions for heartstrings

heartstrings

/ (ˈhɑːtˌstrɪŋz) /


pl n
  1. often facetious deep emotions or feelings

Origin of heartstrings

1
C15: originally referring to the tendons supposed to support the heart

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