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muscle
[ muhs-uhl ]
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.
Synonyms: , , ,
- 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.
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.
- 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.
verb (used without object)
- Informal. to make one's way by force or fraud (often followed by in or into ).
adjective
- Informal. (of a machine, engine, or vehicle) being very powerful or capable of high-speed performance:
a muscle power saw.
muscle
/ ˈʌə /
noun
- 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
verb
- informal.intr; often foll by in, on, etc to force one's way (in)
muscle
- 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.
Derived Forms
- ˈܲ, adjective
Other Word Forms
- ܲc· adjective
- ܲc adjective
- v·ܲc adjective
- ٰԲ·ܲc noun
- ܲ·ܲc adjective
Word History and Origins
Word History and Origins
Origin of muscle1
Idioms and Phrases
In addition to the idiom beginning with muscle , also see flex one's muscles ; move a muscle .Example Sentences
Or the love of roided-out male bodies, which try to recreate the impossibly huge muscles of comic books on human bodies.
After digging deep lesions with their powerful maggot jaws, anchoring themselves inside them with their external spikes, screwworm larvae feed on the living flesh, working their way to deeper tissues like the muscles.
For the Conservatives, how much of its once legendary campaigning muscle is left after getting whacked in the summer?
He "lost a really significant portion of his upper lip - the skin and some of the underlying muscle - and also his lower lip," he said.
His bones were shaped by large, powerful muscles and there was evidence of injuries to his shoulder and spine, which were associated with hard physical work and combat.
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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.
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