Definitions
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.
- noun A tendon.
- noun Vigorous strength; muscular power.
- noun The source or mainstay of vitality and strength.
- transitive verb To strengthen with or as if with sinews.
from The Century Dictionary.
- To furnish with sinews; strengthen as by sinews; make robust; harden; steel.
- To serve as sinews of; be the support or mainstay of.
- To knit or bind strongly; join firmly.
- noun A cord or tendon of the body. See
tendon . - noun A nerve. Compare
aponeurosis . - noun Hence Figuratively, muscle; nerve; nervous energy; strength.
- noun A string or chord, as of a musical instrument.
- noun That which gives strength or in which strength consists; a supporting member or factor; a mainstay.
from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.
- transitive verb To knit together, or make strong with, or as with, sinews.
- noun (Anat.) A tendon or tendonous tissue. See
Tendon . - noun rare Muscle; nerve.
- noun Fig.: That which supplies strength or power.
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.
- noun anatomy A
cord ortendon of the body. - noun obsolete A
nerve . - noun figuratively
Muscle ;nerve ;nervous energy ;vigor ;vigorous strength ;muscular power . - noun A
string orchord , as of a musical instrument. - noun figuratively That which gives
strength or in which strength consists; a supporting member or factor;mainstay ;source ofacquiring strength (often plural). - verb To
knit together , or make strong with, or as if with, sinews.
from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.
- noun a cord or band of inelastic tissue connecting a muscle with its bony attachment
- noun possessing muscular strength
Etymologies
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License
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Examples
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He preaches what he calls the sinew and bone of doctrine, and he is very stern in the pulpit.
Watersprings Arthur Christopher Benson 1893
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Matching him sinew for sinew is Wes Studi as the bloodcurdlingly vengeful villain Magua, who vows to rip the heart out of an old adversary.
Last of the Mohicans: No 18 Cath Clarke 2010
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And strings them nested onto strands of sinew from a tule deer
UMAI AND THE LIGHT AT THE EDGE OF THE WATER Maggie Jochild 2007
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Tough sinew is the result of hard muscular action.
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The young day's strength is ours in sinew and thew and muscle,
The Watchman and Other Poems Lucy Maud 1916
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By Great Britain and her Colonies continually sending a vast amount of their trade to our neighbours to the south, or to the rival nation of Germany in Europe, we are deflecting that much capital and muscle and sinew from the Empire to develop outside countries, and it must always be a material sacrifice to ourselves.
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The word sinew, by the way, is exactly equal to our word nerve, and ayenward, as our author would say.
Mediaeval Lore from Bartholomew Anglicus Robert Steele 1902
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The sinew is carefully extracted; and where there are no persons skilled enough for that operation, they do not make use of the hind legs at all.
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Probably a desperate hand-to-hand fight would have ensued, for Fergus McKay had much of the bone, muscle, and sinew, that is characteristic of his race, but a blow from an unseen weapon stunned him, and when his senses returned he found himself bound hand and foot lying in the bottom of a canoe.
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I might slip, and get a sprain or break a sinew, or something, and I should like to know that there is a practitioner at hand to take care of my injury.
Over the Teacups Oliver Wendell Holmes 1851
yarb commented on the word sinew
"I see in him outrageous strength, with an inscrutable malice sinewing it."
- Melville, Moby-Dick, ch. 36
July 25, 2008