muscle
To use force to make progress, especially physical forceTo use force to make progress, especially physical force.
Recorded US: Speaker: Naomi Persephone Amethyst Recorder: NaomiAmethyst, CC BY-SA 4.0, Wikimedia Commons
» He muscled his way through the crowd.
CK · Tatoeba · CC BY 2.0 FRTranslations
1 languagesExamples
124 sentencesMeaning
2 senses(transitive)To use force to make progress, especially physical force.
He muscled his way through the crowd.
(intransitive)To move forcefully or with great strength.
She muscled through the ruins.
- make one's way by force
Origin
From Middle English muscle, muscule, muskylle, and in part from Middle French muscle, fromFrom Middle English muscle, muscule, muskylle, and in part from Middle French muscle, from Latin mūsculus (“a muscle”, literally “little mouse”) because of the mouselike appearance of some muscles, from mūs (“mouse”). Doublet of mussel. More at mouse.
Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0 · source
Forms
muscles, muscling, muscled, muscledTenses
muscle · muscled · will muscle · have muscledPhrasal verbs
3 phrasal verbsWord family
5 related wordsLessons for this word
3 lessons- A1Present simple — Because it is a verb
- A1Past simple, regular verbs — Because of its past form
- A2Present perfect: introduction — Because of its past participle
See also
neighbours in the dictionaryDictionary text adapted from Wiktionary (Wiktionary contributors, CC BY-SA 4.0) and Open English WordNet / Princeton WordNet (CC BY 4.0, WordNet License); shared under CC BY-SA 4.0. Example sentences and recordings are credited where they appear.