SINEW

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

 Dictionary entry overview: What does sinew mean? 

• SINEW (noun)
  The noun SINEW has 2 senses:

1. a cord or band of inelastic tissue connecting a muscle with its bony attachment

2. possessing muscular strength

  Familiarity information: SINEW used as a noun is rare.

 Dictionary entry details 

• SINEW (noun)

Sense 1

Meaning:

A cord or band of inelastic tissue connecting a muscle with its bony attachment

Classified under:

Nouns denoting body parts

Synonyms:

sinew; tendon

Hypernyms ("sinew" is a kind of...):

connective tissue (tissue of mesodermal origin consisting of e.g. collagen fibroblasts and fatty cells; supports organs and fills spaces between them and forms tendons and ligaments)

Meronyms (substance of "sinew"):

collagen (a fibrous scleroprotein in bone and cartilage and tendon and other connective tissue; yields gelatin on boiling)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "sinew"):

hamstring; hamstring tendon (one of the tendons at the back of the knee)

Achilles tendon; tendon of Achilles (a large tendon that runs from the heel to the calf)

Holonyms ("sinew" is a part of...):

muscle system; muscular structure; musculature (the muscular system of an organism)

Derivation:

sinewy (consisting of tendons or resembling a tendon)

Sense 2

Meaning:

Possessing muscular strength

Classified under:

Nouns denoting attributes of people and objects

Synonyms:

brawn; brawniness; heftiness; muscle; muscularity; sinew

Hypernyms ("sinew" is a kind of...):

strength (the property of being physically or mentally strong)

Derivation:

sinewy ((of a person) possessing physical strength and weight; rugged and powerful)

 Context examples 

“I strained a sinew on the day that I slew the three men at Castelnau.”

(The White Company, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

"Our young friend has the thews and sinews," said he.

(The Lost World, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

By straining to satisfy St. John till my sinews ache, I shall satisfy him—to the finest central point and farthest outward circle of his expectations.

(Jane Eyre, by Charlotte Brontë)

"I'll have to lay in a supply for my next attack on the editors. Money is the sinews of war, in my case—money and patience."

(Martin Eden, by Jack London)

He became quicker of movement than the other dogs, swifter of foot, craftier, deadlier, more lithe, more lean with ironlike muscle and sinew, more enduring, more cruel, more ferocious, and more intelligent.

(White Fang, by Jack London)

There was none of that white sleek skin and shimmering play of sinew which made Wilson a beautiful picture, but in its stead there was a rugged grandeur of knotted and tangled muscle, as though the roots of some old tree were writhing from breast to shoulder, and from shoulder to elbow.

(Rodney Stone, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

Powerfully muscled though some of them were, there had been something wrong with all of them, an insufficient development here, an undue development there, a twist or a crook that destroyed symmetry, legs too short or too long, or too much sinew or bone exposed, or too little.

(The Sea-Wolf, by Jack London)

As every person called up made exactly the same appearance he had done in the world, it gave me melancholy reflections to observe how much the race of human kind was degenerated among us within these hundred years past; how the pox, under all its consequences and denominations had altered every lineament of an English countenance; shortened the size of bodies, unbraced the nerves, relaxed the sinews and muscles, introduced a sallow complexion, and rendered the flesh loose and rancid.

(Gulliver's Travels into several remote nations of the world, by Jonathan Swift)

He was mastered by the sheer surging of life, the tidal wave of being, the perfect joy of each separate muscle, joint, and sinew in that it was everything that was not death, that it was aglow and rampant, expressing itself in movement, flying exultantly under the stars and over the face of dead matter that did not move.

(The Call of the Wild, by Jack London)

Even in repose the sun threw shadows from the curves of his skin, but when he exerted himself every muscle bunched itself up, distinct and hard, breaking his whole trunk into gnarled knots of sinew.

(Rodney Stone, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)