English

Alternative forms

• heart-strings
• heart strings

Noun

heartstrings pl ‎(plural only)

1. (obsolete, anatomy) The tendons once thought to brace the heart. [15th-19th c.]
   • 1621, Robert Burton, The Anatomy of Melancholy, I.iii.2.4:

     The midriff and heart-strings do burn and beat very fearfully, and when this vapour or fume is stirred, flieth upward, the heart itself beats […].

2. (figuratively) One's deepest emotions or inner feelings. [from 16th c.]
3. (anatomy) The cord-like tendons that connect the papillary muscles to the tricuspid valve and the mitral valve in the heart.
   • 2002, Beryl Stretch, BTEC National Health Studies

     These are the so-called heartstrings or chordae tendineae.

   • 2014, Crissy Shreve, BMom:

     As a result, one or more of his chordae tendineae, or heartstrings, ruptured.

Synonyms

• (cord-like tendons): chorda tendinea/chordae tendineae

Translations