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  1. gastrocnemius love

Definitions

American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition

  1. n. The largest, most prominent muscle of the calf of the leg, the action of which extends the foot and bends the knee.

Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia

  1. n. A superficial muscle of the posterior tibial region, arising from the femur and inserted into the tarsus, the action of which extends the foot upon the leg, and flexes the leg upon the thigh: so called from its character in man, in whom it forms, together with the soleus, the protuberant or “bellying” part of the calf of the leg. In man the gastrocnemius arises by two heads, inner and outer, from the corresponding condyles of the femur, is joined by the soleus, and then forms a very stout tendon, the tendo Achillis, which is inserted into the tuberosity of the os calcis or heel-bone. (See cut under muscle.) In animals in which there is no soleus the two heads of the gastrocnemius often form two muscles, distinct in their whole length, with separate Achillean tendons.

Wiktionary

  1. n. The muscle at the back of the calf, whose insertion is the Achilles tendon at the heel.

GNU Webster's 1913

  1. n. (Anat.) The muscle which makes the greater part of the calf of the leg.

WordNet 3.0

  1. n. the muscle in the back part of the leg that forms the greater part of the calf; responsible for the plantar flexion of the foot

Etymologies

  1. New Latin gastrocnēmius, from Greek gastroknēmiā, calf of the leg : gastro-, belly (from its belly-like shape); see gastro- + knēmē, leg. (American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition)

Examples

  • “Compared with a control group of women who usually wore flat shoes, the stiletto wearers 'Achilles tendons were about 20% stiffer, and the fibers of the gastrocnemius muscle in their calves were about 12% shorter.”

    The Wall Street Journal: A Long Legacy of Affection

  • “Works upper and lower legs quadriceps, hamstrings, gastrocnemius”

    Simon & Schuster: The Life You Want

  • “The symptoms of "tennis leg" most commonly results from an acute rupture of the Achilles tendon and less frequently, by a tear in one of the calf muscles, the gastrocnemius muscle, or the plantaris tendon.”

    Helene Pavlov: Tennis Season Is Here -- All About a Common Noncontact Injuries in the Lower Leg

  • “The other major muscle group in the leg is the gastrocnemius, the big calf muscle.”

    Simon & Schuster: THE PROGRAM

  • “Together, the quadriceps, hamstrings, and gastrocnemius form the big-muscle trio that surrounds and supports your knee.”

    Simon & Schuster: THE PROGRAM

  • “Example is when the gastrocnemius (calf) muscle raises the weight of the body on the toes.”

    Muscles Part 1

  • “And whether he would have ever escaped out of the town, it is hard to say, if the dog had not taken it into his head that they were going to pull his master in pieces, and tackled them so sharply about the gastrocnemius muscle, that he gave them some business of their own to think of at last; and while they were rubbing their bitten calves, Tom and the dog got safe away.”

    The Water Babies

  • “Then we do spinal reflexes - biceps tendon, triceps tendon, crossed extensor reflex, extensor carpi radialis, withdrawl reflex, patellar tendon, gastrocnemius, cranial tibial, and sciatic reflexes.”

    Shooting Up the Cat

  • “Cross-section from the gastrocnemius muscle of the horse.”

    August Krogh - Nobel Lecture

  • “It still is so when the afferent nerve chosen is homogeneous in the sense that it is a purely muscular afferent, e.g. the afferent from one head of the gastrocnemius muscle.”

    Sir Charles Sherrington - Nobel Lecture

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hypernyms (2)

Words that are more generic or abstract

  1. striated muscle
  1. skeletal muscle

same context (21)

Words that are found in similar contexts

  1. adductor
  2. flexor
  3. quadriceps
  4. extra-ocular
  1. ciliary
  2. dilator
  3. levator
  4. fasciae
  1. latissimus
  2. puborectalis
  3. trapezius
  4. abductor
  1. well-toned
  2. ironstone
  3. corded
  4. levaquin
  1. purse-string
  2. either
  3. bulbar
  4. masticatory
  1. gluteal

reverse dictionary (10)

Words that contain this word in their definition

  1. ectogastrocnemius
  2. entogastrocnemius
  1. master-sinew
  2. poplitæus
  1. calf
  2. fabella
  1. gastrocnemial
  2. soleus
  1. soleus muscle
  2. internal

tags (5)

Free-form, user-generated categorization

  1. muscle
  1. anatomy
  1. aoeiu
  1. cvcccvccvcvvc
  1. cn

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Comments

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  • reesetee You sly dog, you.

    I mean bear. Mar 5, 2008

  • chained_bear Yes, he was watching an orang-utang. I purposely left that part out. Makes it a rather interesting excerpt. :) Mar 5, 2008

  • reesetee I presume he was referring to a non-human animal, c_b? Because I didn't think that until I got to the last phrase.... Mar 5, 2008

  • chained_bear "He took the most particular notice of her progression, her muscular movements, the paucity of the gluteus maximus, the odd disposition and contraction of the gastrocnemius, and on the other hand the prodigious breadth of shoulder and very powerful great arms—clearly an animal made for moving among trees."
    --Patrick O'Brian, The Thirteen Gun Salute, 221–222 Mar 5, 2008

  • treeseed "And whether he would have ever escaped out of the town it is hard to say, if the dog had not taken it into his head that they were going to pull his master in pieces, and tackled them so sharply about the gastrocnemius muscle that he gave them some business of their own to think of at last; and while they were rubbing their bitten calves, Tom and the dog got safe away."
    _from Water Babies - Charles Kingsley, 1937 Jan 30, 2008

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‘gastrocnemius’ has been looked up 1247 times, loved by 1 person, added to 9 lists, commented on 5 times, and has a Scrabble score of 18.