I. muscle
variant of mussel
II. mus·cle ˈməsəl noun
( -s )
Usage: often attributive
Etymology: Middle French, from Latin musculus, from diminutive of mus mouse — more at mouse
1.
a. : a tissue that functions to produce motion and is made up of variously modified elongated cells capable of contracting when stimulated — see cardiac muscle , smooth muscle , striated muscle
b. : an organ that contracts to produce, enhance, or check a particular movement and is made up of usually striated muscle tissue enclosed in a perimysium and firmly attached at either end to a bone or other fixed point — see agonist , antagonist , synergist
2.
a. : something that resembles or is likened to a muscle
electronic circuits … are the muscles which carry out its orders — Boeing Magazine
the muscles of England … the factories — Richard Joseph
limbered his mental and moral muscles — Janet Whitney
b.
(1) : muscular strength : brawn
got the nerve for anything, only he hasn't got the muscle — Joseph Conrad
(2) : effective strength or authority : force , power
put military muscle into the mutual defense pact — New York Herald Tribune
chosen less for polish and background, more for economic and executive muscle — Time
a cup of … coffee that really has some muscle — R.M.Hodesh
c. : an essential item or service : necessity
economics that would cut out fat rather than muscle — D.W.Mitchell
3.
a. : muscular tissue
b. : lean meat
III. muscle verb
( muscled ; muscled ; muscling -s(ə)liŋ ; muscles )
transitive verb
1. dialect : to move by muscular effort
needed men to muscle chairs and tables — Linnell Jones
2. : to use strength or influence on : achieve by coercion : force , shove
was suddenly muscled aside as a swarm of his fellows rushed out — Sydney (Australia) Bulletin
a plane muscles its way through the … sound barrier — Springfield (Massachusetts) Daily News
dreamers were muscled out of patent rights — Scott Fitzgerald
3. : to furnish with strength or muscle : reinforce , condition
even the years of ballet exercises … had not muscled them into hardness — Winifred Bambrick
muscle up our diplomatic approach — Newsweek
muscling their minds to strike — Rose Thurburn
intransitive verb
1.
a. : to make one's way by brute strength
slowly muscled up the cliff
b. : to overcome opposition by force — usually used with in or into
muscled into the queue — Bruce Marshall
2. : to force one's way in (as by trickery or intimidation) against hostility or opposition especially for fraudulent gain — usually used with in
some competing journalist would muscle in on my exclusive story — New York Times
muscling in on his territory — Green Peyton
would muscle in on the racket