muscle

Use Muscle in a sentence

noun

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.

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verb (used with object)

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.

10.

to strengthen or toughen; put muscle into.

11.

Informal. to accomplish by muscular force: to muscle the partition into place.

12.

Informal. to force or compel, as by threats, promises, influence, or the like: to muscle a bill through Congress.

00:10

Muscle is always a great word to know.

So is ossicles. Does it mean:

three tiny bones just behind the ear drum – hammer malleus, anvil incus, and stirrup stapes

a band of tissue, usually white and fibrous, serving to connect bones, hold organs in place, etc.

LEARN MORE UNUSUAL WORDS WITH WORD DYNAMO...

verb (used without object)

13.

Informal. to make one's way by force or fraud (often followed by in or into ).

adjective

14.

Informal. (of a machine, engine, or vehicle) being very powerful or capable of high-speed performance: a muscle power saw.

Origin:
1525–35; < Latin mūsculus literally, little mouse (from fancied resemblance to some muscles), equivalent to mūs mouse + -culus -cle¹

Related forms

mus·cle·less, adjective

mus·cly, adjective

o·ver·mus·cled, adjective

trans·mus·cle, noun

un·mus·cled, adjective

Synonyms
3. power, vigor, might, force.

Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2013.
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Link To muscle

Collins

World English Dictionary

muscle (ˈmʌs^əl)

—n
1.	a tissue composed of bundles of elongated cells capable of contraction and relaxation to produce movement in an organ or part
2.	an organ composed of muscle tissue
3.	strength or force

—vb
4.	informal (intr; often foll by in, on, etc) to force one's way (in)

[C16: from medical Latin musculus little mouse, from the imagined resemblance of some muscles to mice, from Latin mūs mouse]

'muscly

—*adj*

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 10th Edition
2009 © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins
Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009
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Etymonline

Word Origin & History

muscle

1530s, from L. musculus "a muscle," lit. "little mouse," dim. of mus "mouse" (see mouse). So called because the shape and movement of some muscles (notably biceps) were thought to resemble mice. The analogy was made in Greek, too, where mys is both "mouse" and "muscle," and

its comb. form gives the medical prefix my-/myo-. Cf. also O.C.S. mysi "mouse," mysica "arm;" Ger. Maus "mouse, muscle," Arabic 'adalah "muscle," 'adal "field mouse." Figurative sense of "force, violence, threat of violence" is 1930, Amer.Eng. The verb first recorded 1913, "to accomplish by strength;" to muscle in is 1929 in underworld slang. Muscle-man was originally (1929) "an underworld enforcer;" sense of "strong man" first attested 1952. Muscle-bound is first recorded 1879. Muscle car "hot rod" is from 1969.

Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper
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American Heritage

Medical Dictionary

muscle mus·cle (mŭs'əl)
n.

A tissue consisting predominantly of contractile cells and classified as skeletal, cardiac, or smooth, the last lacking transverse striations characteristic of the first two.
Any of the contractile organs of the body by which movements of the various organs and parts are effected, and whose fibers are usually attached at each extremity to a bone or other structure by a tendon.

American Heritage

Science Dictionary

muscle

(mŭs'əl) Pronunciation Key
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.

muscular adjective

American Heritage

Idioms & Phrases

muscle

In addition to the idiom beginning with muscle, also see flex one's muscles; move a muscle.