Definify.com
Webster 1913 Edition
Muscle
Mus′cle
(mŭs′’l)
, Noun.
[F., fr. L.
musculus
a muscle, a little mouse, dim. of mus
a mouse. See Mouse
, and cf. sense 3 (below).] 1.
(Anat.)
(a)
An organ which, by its contraction, produces motion.
See Illust. of Muscles of the Human Body, in Appendix. (b)
The contractile tissue of which muscles are largely made up.
☞ Muscles are of two kinds, striated and nonstriated. The striated muscles, which, in most of the higher animals, constitute the principal part of the flesh, exclusive of the fat, are mostly under the control of the will, or voluntary, and are made up of great numbers of elongated fibres bound together into bundles and inclosed in a sheath of connective tissue, the
The nonstriated muscles are involuntary . They constitute a large part of the walls of the alimentary canal, blood vessels, uterus, and bladder, and are found also in the iris, skin, etc. They are made up of greatly elongated cells, usually grouped in bundles or sheets.perimysium
. Each fiber is inclosed in a delicate membrane (the sarcolemma
), is made up of alternate segments of lighter and darker material which give it a transversely striated appearance, and contains, scattered through its substance, protoplasmic nuclei, the so-called muscle corpuscles
. 2.
Muscular strength or development;
as, to show one’s
. muscle
by lifting a heavy weight[Colloq.]
3.
[AS.
muscle
, L. musculus
a muscle, mussel. See above.] (Zool.)
See
Mussel
. Muscle curve
(Physiol.)
, contraction curve of a muscle; a myogram; the curve inscribed, upon a prepared surface, by means of a myograph when acted upon by a contracting muscle. The character of the curve represents the extent of the contraction.
Webster 1828 Edition
Muscle
MUS'CLE
,Noun.
1.
In anatomy,the muscles are the organs of motion, consisting of fibers or bundles of fibers inclosed in a thin cellular membrane. The muscles are susceptible of contraction and relaxation, and in a healthy state the proper muscles are subject to the will, and are called voluntary muscles. But other parts of the body, as the heart, the urinary bladder, the stomach, &c. are of a muscular texture, and susceptible of contraction and dilatation, but are not subject to the will, and are therefore called involuntary muscles. The red color of the muscles is owing to the blood vessels which they contain. The ends of the muscles are fastened to the bones which they move, and when they act in opposition to each other, they are called antagonists.Muscles are divided into the head, belly and tail. The head is the part fixed on the immovable joint called its origin, and is usually tendinous; the belly is the middle fleshy part,which consists of the true muscular fibers; the tail is the tendinous portion inserted into the part to be moved, called the insertion; but in the tendon, the fibers are more compact than in the belly of the muscle,and do not admit the red globules.
2.
A bivalvular shell fish of the genus Mytilus; sometimes written mussel.