Muscle

Muscle
Muscle Mus"cle (m[u^]s"'l), n. [F., fr. L. musculus a muscle, a little mouse, dim. of mus a mouse. See {Mouse}, and cf. sense 3 (below).] 1. (Anat.) (a) An organ which, by its contraction, produces motion. See Illust. of Muscles of the Human Body, in Appendix. (b) The contractile tissue of which muscles are largely made up. [1913 Webster]

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. [1913 Webster] 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. [1913 Webster]

2. Muscular strength or development; as, to show one's muscle by lifting a heavy weight. [Colloq.] [1913 Webster]

3. [AS. muscle, L. musculus a muscle, mussel. See above.] (Zo["o]l.) See {Mussel}. [1913 Webster]

4. An essential part of something; as, budget cuts have gone beyond the fat and are cutting into the muscle of the government. [PJC]

5. Bodyguards or other persons hired to provide protection or commit violence; as, he doesn't go out without his muscle along. [slang] [PJC]

{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. [1913 Webster]


The Collaborative International Dictionary of English. 2000.

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  • muscle — [ myskl ] n. m. • 1314; lat. musculus « petit rat » → 2. moule 1 ♦ Anat. Structure organique contractile qui assure les mouvements. ⇒ motricité. Relatif aux muscles. ⇒ musculaire, musculeux; my(o) , sarco . Le muscle est fait de cellules en… …   Encyclopédie Universelle

  • musclé — muscle [ myskl ] n. m. • 1314; lat. musculus « petit rat » → 2. moule 1 ♦ Anat. Structure organique contractile qui assure les mouvements. ⇒ motricité. Relatif aux muscles. ⇒ musculaire, musculeux; my(o) , sarco . Le muscle est fait de cellules… …   Encyclopédie Universelle

  • Muscle — {{{Caption}}} modifier  …   Wikipédia en Français

  • Muscle — is the tissue of the body which primarily functions as a source of power. There are three types of muscle in the body. Muscle which is responsible for moving extremities and external areas of the body is called "skeletal muscle." Heart… …   Medical dictionary

  • MUSCLE — (multiple sequence comparison by log expectation) is public domain, multiple sequence alignment software for protein and nucleotide sequences.cite journal |author=Edgar RC |title=MUSCLE: multiple sequence alignment with high accuracy and high… …   Wikipedia

  • muscle — MUSCLE. s. m. Partie charnüe & fibreuse, & l organe des mouvements de l animal. Le gros muscle. muscle large. les muscles de la face. les muscles des bras, des jambes &c. le tendon d un muscle. les fibres des muscles. l origine des muscles …   Dictionnaire de l'Académie française

  • muscle in on — (something) to force a way into someone s business or other relationships in order to control them. Russell was the governor s closest friend, and he didn t like it when someone tried to muscle in on that relationship. These people pretended to… …   New idioms dictionary

  • muscle — Muscle, Musculus. le muscle, c est à dire, la partie charnue de tout le corps, en laquelle git la force, soit és cuisses ou és bras, Lacertus. Muscle spasmé et retiré, Conuulsus musculus …   Thresor de la langue françoyse

  • muscle — [mus′əl] n. [Fr < L musculus, a muscle, lit., little mouse (from the fancied resemblance between the movements of a mouse and muscle), dim. of mus,MOUSE] 1. any of the body organs consisting of bundles of cells or fibers that can be contracted …   English World dictionary

  • muscle — mus cle, v. t. 1. To compel by threat of force; as, they muscled the shopkeeper into paying protection money. [PJC] 2. To moved by human force; as, to muscle the piano onto the truck. [PJC] …   The Collaborative International Dictionary of English

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