The AI-powered English dictionary
countable and uncountable, plural muscles
(uncountable) A contractile form of tissue which animals use to effect movement. quotations examples
For as the Trunk of the Body, is kept from tilting forvvard by the Muſcules of the Back: So, from falling backvvard, by theſe of the Belly.
1701, Nehemiah Grew, “Of the Use of Organized Bodies”, in Cosmologia Sacra: Or A Discourse of the Universe as It is the Creature and Kingdom of God. […], London: […] W. Rogers, S. Smith, and B[enjamin] Walford: […], 1st book, paragraph 18, page 27
(countable) An organ composed of muscle tissue. quotations examples
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.
1912 January, Zane Grey, chapter VIII, in Riders of the Purple Sage […], New York, N.Y., London: Harper & Brothers Publishers
You, Boxer, the very day that those great muscles of yours lose their power, Jones will sell you to the knacker […]
1945 August 17, George Orwell [pseudonym; Eric Arthur Blair], chapter I, in Animal Farm […], London: Secker & Warburg
(uncountable, usually in the plural) A well-developed physique, in which the muscles are enlarged from exercise. quotations examples
The fact that I was middle-aged, bald, married, and raising girls instead of chasing them didn't really bother me. Muscles are cool at any age.
2008, Lou Schuler, "Foreward", in Nate Green, Built for Show, page xii
(uncountable, figurative) Strength, force. quotations examples
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.
2010, Adam Quinn, US Foreign Policy in Context, page 81
It was going to take muscle to pluck Miss Agnes out of the canal.
2013, John D. MacDonald, The Long Lavender Look, page 15
How can the unions - or more specifically the RMT—possibly think this is a good time to exert a bit of industrial muscle and indulge in strikes both on the national railway and the London Underground?
2022 January 12, Christian Wolmar, “A new year... but the same old mistakes are being made”, in RAIL, number 948, pages 40–41
(uncountable, figurative) Hired strongmen or bodyguards. quotations examples
It was easy enough to dodge him, let him crash into the floorboards. Peltroc knew that his priority was the leader, not the hired muscle.
1985, Lance Parkin, The Infinity Doctors, page 34
third-person singular simple present muscles, present participle muscling, simple past and past participle muscled
To use force to make progress, especially physical force. quotations examples
Hensel and Wilson hit a series of leg shots simultaneously as Christian muscles between them with Quinn right on his heels.
1988, Steve Holman, “Christian Conquers Columbus”, in Ironman, 47 (6): 28-34
Nothing the Nebraskans ever again recorded managed to muscle more than minimal attention.
1990, Wayne Jancik, The Billboard Book of One-Hit Wonders, page 236
"Here!" I passed out stacks of money. T.C. hadn't had time to batch it up, so some of it was just laying loose in money bags and I passed all that shit out to Rome while Pimp muscled Miss Lady around.
2006, Noire [pseudonym], Thug-A-Licious: An Urban Erotic Tale, New York, N.Y.: One World/Ballantine Books, page 112