muscle
a tissue composed of cells or fibers, the contraction of which produces movement in the body.
an organ, composed of muscle tissue, that contracts to produce a particular movement.
muscular strength; brawn: It will take a great deal of muscle to move this box.
power or force, especially of a coercive nature: They put muscle into their policy and sent the marines.
lean meat.
Slang.
a hired thug or thugs.
a bodyguard or bodyguards: a gangster protected by muscle.
a necessary or fundamental thing, quality, etc.: The editor cut the muscle from the article.
Informal. to force or compel others to make way for: He muscled his way into the conversation.
to make more muscular: The dancing lessons muscled her legs.
to strengthen or toughen; put muscle into.
Informal. to accomplish by muscular force: to muscle the partition into place.
Informal. to force or compel, as by threats, promises, influence, or the like: to muscle a bill through Congress.
Informal. to make one's way by force or fraud (often followed by in or into).
Informal. (of a machine, engine, or vehicle) being very powerful or capable of high-speed performance: a muscle power saw.
Origin of muscle
1Other words for muscle
Other words from muscle
- mus·cle·less, adjective
- muscly, adjective
- o·ver·mus·cled, adjective
- trans·mus·cle, noun
- un·mus·cled, adjective
Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2024
How to use muscle in a sentence
Think of him as a kind of Cecil Rhodes in a loincloth and with bulging muscles.
Can Tarzan of the Apes Survive in a Post-Colonial World? | Ted Gioia | November 23, 2014 | THE DAILY BEASTThe security guard wears a black suit and black V-neck that hardly contain his bulging muscles.
The Holy Grail of Comic Books Hid in Plain Site at New York Comic Con | Sujay Kumar | October 14, 2014 | THE DAILY BEASTFor the entire duration of the hours I spent inside San Pedro I noticed my abdominal muscles remained perpetually clenched.
Cocaine, Politicians and Wives: Inside the World’s Most Bizarre Prison | Jason Batansky | October 12, 2014 | THE DAILY BEASTEyes red and prison muscles bulging, a tattooed white man behind me jumped to his feet from a crouch and swatted me aside.
Inside a Hospital for the Criminally Insane | Caitlin Dickson | September 15, 2014 | THE DAILY BEASTThe emphasis is on fresh faces and tensed bodies and muscles, rather than come-to-bed eyes, pouting, and bulges down below.
Prince Fielder’s Demi Moore Moment: World Loses It Over Athlete Without Six-Pack | Tim Teeman | July 10, 2014 | THE DAILY BEAST
The women at once rose and began to shake out their draperies and relax their muscles.
The Awakening and Selected Short Stories | Kate ChopinThe ability to sustain the tone for a long time will increase, and with it the power of the muscles exercised.
Expressive Voice Culture | Jessie Eldridge SouthwickHis ear, his brain, his muscles take on a new joyous activity, and the tide of life rises higher.
Children's Ways | James SullyThere was a vicious aching in his nerves, his muscles were flaccid and unstrung; a numbness was in his brain as well.
The Wave | Algernon BlackwoodIn the whole of anatomy there is no task so difficult as that of learning the precise attachments of the muscles of the back.
Assimilative Memory | Marcus Dwight Larrowe (AKA Prof. A. Loisette)
British Dictionary definitions for muscle
/ (ˈmʌsəl) /
a tissue composed of bundles of elongated cells capable of contraction and relaxation to produce movement in an organ or part
an organ composed of muscle tissue
strength or force
(intr; often foll by in, on, etc) informal to force one's way (in)
Origin of muscle
1Derived forms of muscle
- muscly, adjective
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
Scientific definitions for muscle
[ mŭs′əl ]
A body tissue composed of sheets or bundles of cells that contract to produce movement or increase tension. Muscle cells contain filaments made of the proteins actin and myosin, which lie parallel to each other. When a muscle is signaled to contract, the actin and myosin filaments slide past each other in an overlapping pattern.♦ Skeletal muscle effects voluntary movement and is made up of bundles of elongated cells (muscle fibers), each of which contains many nuclei.♦ Smooth muscle provides the contractile force for the internal organs and is controlled by the autonomic nervous system. Smooth muscle cells are spindle-shaped and each contains a single nucleus.♦ Cardiac muscle makes up the muscle of the heart and consists of a meshwork of striated cells.
Other words from muscle
- muscular adjective
The American Heritage® Science Dictionary Copyright © 2011. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.
Other Idioms and Phrases with muscle
In addition to the idiom beginning with muscle
- muscle in
also see:
- flex one's muscles
- move a muscle
The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary Copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
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