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Muscle   /mˈəsəl/   Listen
noun
Muscle  n.  
1.
(Anat.)
(a)
An organ which, by its contraction, produces motion.
(b)
The contractile tissue of which muscles are largely made up. Note: Muscles are of two kinds, striated and nonstriated. The striated muscles, which, in most of the higher animals, constitute the principal part of the flesh, exclusive of the fat, are mostly under the control of the will, or voluntary, and are made up of great numbers of elongated fibres bound together into bundles and inclosed in a sheath of connective tissue, the perimysium. Each fiber is inclosed in a delicate membrane (the sarcolemma), is made up of alternate segments of lighter and darker material which give it a transversely striated appearance, and contains, scattered through its substance, protoplasmic nuclei, the so-called muscle corpuscles. The nonstriated muscles are involuntary. They constitute a large part of the walls of the alimentary canal, blood vessels, uterus, and bladder, and are found also in the iris, skin, etc. They are made up of greatly elongated cells, usually grouped in bundles or sheets.
2.
Muscular strength or development; as, to show one's muscle by lifting a heavy weight. (Colloq.)
3.
(Zool.) See Mussel.
4.
An essential part of something; as, budget cuts have gone beyond the fat and are cutting into the muscle of the government.
5.
Bodyguards or other persons hired to provide protection or commit violence; as, he doesn't go out without his muscle along. (slang)
Muscle curve (Physiol.), contraction curve of a muscle; a myogram; the curve inscribed, upon a prepared surface, by means of a myograph when acted upon by a contracting muscle. The character of the curve represents the extent of the contraction.



verb
muscle  v. t.  
1.
To compel by threat of force; as, they muscled the shopkeeper into paying protection money.
2.
To moved by human force; as, to muscle the piano onto the truck.






Collaborative International Dictionary of English 0.48








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"Muscle" Quotes from Famous Books



... an oath, his free hand instantly grasping at the knife concealed beneath his loose cloak. Even as he jerked it forth, I crushed his wrist within my fingers, forcing his fore-arm back. Breast to breast we wrestled for mastery, every muscle strained, our feet firm planted on the sand. There was no outcry, no noise, except that of our heavy breathing, and trampling feet. Personal hatred had ascendancy in both our hearts—I doubt if he ever ...
— Wolves of the Sea • Randall Parrish

... only for a few seconds with the burning torch. This circumstance may explain the discovery, in a coffin which was eaten to pieces by worms, and quite mouldered away, of a well-preserved skeleton, or rather a mummy, for in many places there were carcasses clothed with dry fibers of muscle and skin. It lay upon a mat of pandanus, which was yet recognizable, with a cushion under the head stuffed with plants, and covered with matting of pandanus. There were no other remains of woven material. ...
— The Former Philippines thru Foreign Eyes • Fedor Jagor; Tomas de Comyn; Chas. Wilkes; Rudolf Virchow.

... aroused, and now showed what muscle he had gained during his free-and-easy life on the road. He attacked the man without hesitation, and forcing him aside, compelled him to keep away from the door by blows and kicks ...
— Young Auctioneers - The Polishing of a Rolling Stone • Edward Stratemeyer

... stay'd the pointed brass, But penetrating sheer the disk, his belt Pierced also, and stood planted in his waist. 625 As when some vigorous youth with sharpen'd axe A pastured bullock smites behind the horns And hews the muscle through; he, at the stroke Springs forth and falls, so sprang Aretus forth, Then fell supine, and in his bowels stood 630 The keen-edged lance still quivering till he died. Then Hector, in return, his radiant spear Hurl'd at Automedon, who of its flight Forewarn'd his body bowing prone, ...
— The Iliad of Homer - Translated into English Blank Verse • Homer

... thought of my dependence on him rankled in me, till it almost bred hatred in me to a man who had certainly never done or meant anything to me but in kindness. For what could he make me but a tailor—or a shoemaker? A pale, consumptive, rickety, weakly boy, all forehead and no muscle—have not clothes and shoes been from time immemorial the appointed work of such? The fact that that weakly frame is generally compensated by a proportionally increased activity of brain, is too unimportant ...
— Alton Locke, Tailor And Poet • Rev. Charles Kingsley et al


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