Standard Lemma guide
Definitions and examples are grouped by meaning. Pronunciation, history, word forms, translations, descendants, synonyms, antonyms, derived terms, and related words appear whenever the source provides them.
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noun
A cord or tendon of the body.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
Topics: anatomy, medicine, sciences
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
noun
A cord or string, particularly (music) as of a musical instrument.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
noun
Muscular power, muscle; nerve, nervous energy; vigor, vigorous strength.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
Usage: figuratively
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
noun
That which gives strength or in which strength consists; a supporting factor or member; mainstay.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
Usage: figuratively, in-plural, often
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
noun
A nerve.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
Usage: obsolete
Topics: anatomy, medicine, sciences
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
verb
To knit together or make strong with, or as if with, sinews.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
Usage: transitive
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
noun
possessing muscular strength
Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Synonyms: brawn, brawniness, muscle, muscularity, heftiness
Antonyms: none provided
Broader terms: strength
noun
a cord or band of inelastic tissue connecting a muscle with its bony attachment
Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Synonyms: tendon
Antonyms: none provided
Broader terms: connective tissue
Narrower terms: hamstring, hamstring tendon, Achilles tendon, tendon of Achilles
History
From Middle English synwe, synewe (“tendon; ligament or other connective tissue; muscle; nerve; leaf vein”), from Old English sinu (“tendon, sinew; nerve”), from Proto-West Germanic *sinu, from Proto-Germanic *sinwō, *senawō (“sinew”), from Proto-Indo-European *snéh1wr̥ (“sinew, tendon”), from *(s)neh1- (“to twist (threads), spin, weave”). The word is cognate with sinnow (“sinew”), Scots senon, sinnon, Saterland Frisian Siene (“sinew”), West Frisian senuw, sine (“sinew; nerve”), Dutch zenuw (“nerve, sinew”), German Sehne (“tendon, sinew; cord”), Icelandic sin (“tendon”), Danish sene (“tendon, sinew”), Swedish sena (“sinew”), Avestan 𐬯𐬥𐬁𐬎𐬎𐬀𐬭 (snāuuar, “tendon, sinew”), Ancient Greek νεῦρον (neûron, “tendon; nerve; cord”), Latin nervus (“tendon, sinew; nerve”), Sanskrit स्नावन् (snāván, “sinew, tendon; muscle”), Tocharian B ṣñor (“sinew”). Doublet of nerve and neuron.
Across languages
25 source translations are retained for this English entry.
