muscle

Pluralmuscles

Formsmuscles, muscling, muscled

1. 1
   nouncountable

   An organ made of muscle tissue, such as the biceps or the heart.

   The biceps is the muscle most people flex to show off.

   Doctors examined the torn muscle in his shoulder.

   Note

   Here the word counts: a muscle, two muscles, the torn muscle in his shoulder. Countability is the quickest way to tell it from the tissue itself, which takes no article. You build muscle, but you strain a muscle. In the plural it names the working parts of a body. Orwell gives Boxer "those great muscles" that will one day lose their power.

2. 2
   noununcountable

   Contractile tissue that animals use to produce movement by tightening and relaxing.

   Regular exercise builds muscle and improves endurance.

   Cardiac muscle never tires the way skeletal tissue does.

   Note

   Behind the word is a small animal: Latin mūsculus, "little mouse," from mūs, because some muscles looked mouselike. The same Latin word gave English mussel, so the two are doublets that parted ways in spelling. Nehemiah Grew still wrote "Muscules" in 1701. As tissue it is a mass noun and takes no article: muscle consists largely of actin and myosin. Its old poetic synonym is thew.

3. 3
   nounfigurativelyuncountable

   Strength or forceful power, especially the kind used to push something through.

   The new regulations lack the muscle to deter big polluters.

   The company used its financial muscle to push the deal through.

   Similarclout, power, strength, teeth, force

   Oppositeweakness

   Note

   Strength transferred from bodies to institutions: a campaign gains muscle, a union exerts industrial muscle, a firm flexes financial muscle. It is uncountable and often paired with an adjective naming the kind of power. Unlike plain strength, it implies power put to use. In Adam Quinn's account, Roosevelt concluded that civilization needed muscle to defend it, "not just solemn words."

4. 4
   nouncountable or uncountable

   A strong, well-built body whose muscles have grown large through exercise.

   Years of swimming gave him lean muscle and broad shoulders.

   The bodybuilder was pure muscle, with hardly any fat.

   Similarbrawn, beef

   Note

   Usually a plural when it means the look of a trained body. Lou Schuler's foreword to Nate Green's Built for Show (2008) puts it plainly: "Muscles are cool at any age." It also works as an uncountable noun, as in lean muscle or pure muscle, where the body is weighed rather than its parts counted. That mass use sits close to the tissue itself. Choose the plural for the visible physique and the uncountable form for its bulk.

5. 5
   verbtransitive

   To use force, especially physical strength, to push something through or make headway.

   Larger firms muscle smaller competitors out of the market.

   She muscled the stuck drawer open with both hands.

   Similarforce, push, shove, elbow

   Note

   Force with an object attached: you muscle your way through a crowd, muscle someone around, muscle a rival out of the market. The verb can stretch beyond bodies, too. A record that never managed to "muscle more than minimal attention" is trying to shove its way into notice. Compare the objectless "push through" verb, where the subject simply forces itself forward.

6. 6
   verbintransitive

   To advance or move using great physical force.

   Linebackers muscle into the backfield on almost every play.

   The icebreaker muscled through the frozen channel.

   Similarpush, barge, plow, force

7. 7
   nounfigurativelyuncountable

   Strongmen or bodyguards hired to protect someone or to apply force.

   The boss brought his muscle to the meeting.

   Loan sharks send muscle to collect overdue debts.

   Similarheavies, enforcers, bodyguards, goons

   Note

   People reduced to their physical force: the hired muscle, the boss's muscle. However many people are meant, it stays a mass noun. So you say the muscle was waiting, never a muscle. Hired is its natural partner. The word ranks them below whoever pays them, which is the point of Lance Parkin's line that the priority was the leader, "not the hired muscle."

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