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sinews

Noun
Pronunciation

Understanding ARPABET Pronunciation

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The pronunciation guide uses the ARPABET phonetic system—the same system used in speech recognition and text-to-speech applications.

Vowel Examples:
AE1 = cat, bat
EH1 = bed, head
IY1 = see, me
OW1 = go, boat
UW1 = boot, do
Stress Numbers:
0 = no stress (unstressed)
1 = primary stress (loud)
2 = secondary stress (medium)
Example:
AH0 TH IY1 N AH0
= a-THEE-na (Athena)

The stressed syllable (marked with 1) is pronounced louder and clearer than others.

Quick Definition

Tendons or strong bands of tissue that connect muscles and bones; by extension, strength or force.

Detailed Definition
"Sinews" is a bodily term that can also suggest the inner strength or structure of something. Blake uses it to make the tiger seem physically assembled, as if its heart were forged from living parts.
Example
Example in poetry:
“Could twist the sinews of thy heart?” uses sinews for cords of muscle and figurative strength; Shakespeare’s “sinews of the state” extends the body term to political power; “Cold tightened the sinews in the runner’s calves” gives literal anatomy; Contemporary-style example: “The sinews of the bridge sang under freight”
Additional Notes
The word "sinews" is a more specialized anatomical term than the common words around it in the poem.; Found in the poem, The Tyger by William Blake
Also Known As
tendons muscles fibers
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