sinew

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“
He preaches what he calls the sinew and bone of doctrine, and he is very stern in the pulpit.

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Definitions (20)

Toggle American Heritage definitions American Heritage Dictionary (4)

  1. noun A tendon.
  2. noun Vigorous strength; muscular power.
  3. noun The source or mainstay of vitality and strength. Often used in the plural: "Good company and good discourse are the very sinews of virtue” (Izaak Walton).
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Toggle Century definitions Century Dictionary (10)

Toggle GNU Webster definitions GNU Webster's 1913 (4)

Toggle WordNet definitions WordNet (2)

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Examples

  • With Strauss everything is full of life and sinew, and there is nothing wasted. —  Musicians of To-Day
  • He liked problems that could be solved with blade and sinew, not dark sorcery. —  Conan the Fearless
  • He preaches what he calls the sinew and bone of doctrine, and he is very stern in the pulpit. —  Watersprings
  • It would puncture flesh, sinew, muscle, even bone, with a force like that. " —  Second Skin
  • It has the sinew, as well as the wing, of poetry. —  Robert Browning
 

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Sinew has been looked up 391 times, favorited twice, listed 36 times, and commented on once.

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Roget's II Roget's II: The New Thesaurus

Allen's Allen's Synonyms and Antonyms

Used in the same context Used in the Same Context

tendon ·  gristle ·  cartilage ·  marrow ·  muscle ·  gut ·  spine ·  musculature ·  brawn ·  hide ·  intestine ·  ligament
Roget's II: The New Thesaurus, Third Edition by the Editors of the American Heritage® Dictionary. Copyright © 2003, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

Etymologies (3)

Toggle American Heritage etymologies American Heritage Dictionary (1)

  1. Middle English sinewe, from Old English sinewe, oblique form of seonu, sinu.

Toggle Century etymologies Century Dictionary (2)

  1. Early modern English also sinnew; from Middle English sinewe, synewe, synowe, synow, senewe, sinwe, senwe, sinue, from Anglo-Saxon sinu, seono, sionu (sinw-, sinew-) =OFries. sini, sine, sin =Middle Dutch senuwe, senue, Dutch zenuw =Middle Low German sene =Old High German senawa, senewa, senuwa, Middle High German senewe, senwe, sene, German sehne =Icel, sin =Swedish sena =Danish sene =Gothic (Moesogothic) *sinawa (not recorded), a sinew; prob. Sanskrit snāva (for *sinava), a sinew; perhaps akin to Anglo-Saxon sāl =Old Saxon sēl =Old High German Middle High German Greek seil =Icelandic seil =Gothic (Moesogothic) *sail (inferred from deriv. insailjan) =Old Bulgarian silo, a cord, rope, and to Greek ἱμάς, a band; from a root *si, Lettish sinu, I bind, Skt, √ si (1st person present sinomi), bind.
  2. from sinew, n.
 

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/ˈsɪnju/
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