muscle
//ˈmʌs.əl//
Forms
- Plural
- muscles
- present (v1)
- muscle
- past (v2)
- muscled
- past participle (v3)
- muscled
- present participle
- muscling
- 3rd person singular
- muscles
Definitions
1.A contractile form of tissue which animals use to effect movement.
- Muscle consists largely of actin and myosin filaments.
2.Strength, force.
- It was going to take muscle to pluck Miss Agnes out of the canal.
- The lesson to be drawn from the events of 1914, to Roosevelt's mind, was that civilization needed muscle to defend it, not just solemn words.
- The widely-backed campaign to recall Evan Mecham as governor of Arizona gained even more muscle when the state House of Representatives voted to impeach the ultraconservative on February 5.
3.An organ composed of muscle tissue.
- His brow and hair and the palms of his hands were wet, and there was a kind of nervous contraction of his muscles. They seemed to ripple and string tense.
4.A well-developed physique, in which the muscles are enlarged from exercise.
1.To use force to make progress, especially physical force.
- He muscled his way through the crowd.
- Nothing the Nebraskans ever again recorded managed to muscle more than minimal attention.
- Hensel and Wilson hit a series of leg shots simultaneously as Christian muscles between them with Quinn right on his heels.
2.To move forcefully or with great strength.
- She muscled through the ruins.
Frequency
Overall
Uncommon· #2104
By learning goal
- Everyday conversation
- Rare
- General reading & writing
- Uncommon
- Academic
- Rare
- Literature
- Rare
Etymology
From Middle English muscle, muscule, muskylle, and in part from Middle French muscle, from Latin mūsculus (“a muscle”, literally “little mouse”) because of the mouselike appearance of some muscles, from mūs (“mouse”).
Doublet of mussel.
More at mouse.