Gristle Definition
grĭsəl
noun
Cartilage, now esp. as found in meat.
Webster's New World
1859, George Eliot, Adam Bede,
Look at Adam through the rest of the day, as he stands on the scaffolding with the two-feet ruler in his hand, whistling low while he considers how a difficulty about a floor-joist or a window-frame is to be overcome; or as he pushes one of the younger workmen aside and takes his place in upheaving a weight of timber, saying, "Let alone, lad! Thee'st got too much gristle i' thy bones yet"; or as he fixes his keen black eyes on the motions of a workman on the other side of the room and warns him that his distances are not right.
Wiktionary
1885, Ada Sarah Ballin, The Science of Dress in Theory and Practice,
It. must be borne in mind that the bones of a young infant are little more than gristle, and are liable to bend, and so become deformed.
Wiktionary
1896, Arthur Conan Doyle, Rodney Stone,
"The young 'un will make his way," said Belcher, who had come across to us. "He's more a sparrer than a fighter just at present, but when his gristle sets he'll take on anything on the list.
Wiktionary
Other Word Forms of Gristle
Noun
Singular:
gristle
Plural:
gristlesOrigin of Gristle
-
From Middle English gristel, grystyl, from Old English gristel, gristle (“gristle, cartilage”), formed from a diminutive of Old English grist (“a grinding”), from Proto-Germanic *gredaną (“to crunch”), equivalent to grist + -le. Cognate with Old Frisian gristel, gerstel (“gristle, cartilage”), Middle Low German gristel (“gristle”).
From Wiktionary
Middle English from Old English
From American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition
Find Similar Words
Find similar words to gristle using the buttons below.