strong nuclear force

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

• noun A residual effect of the strong interaction, mediated by mesons, and binding protons and neutrons together within atomic nuclei.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

• noun physics The color force, a fundamental force that is associated with the strong bonds, created by the associated bosons known as gluons, between quarks and other subatomic particles.
• noun physics, dated The nuclear force, a residual force responsible for the interactions between nucleons, deriving from the color force