Webster
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Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary · 1913

Sinew

Sin′ew (sĭn′ū), n. [OE. sinewe, senewe, AS. sinu, seonu; akin to D. zenuw, OHG. senawa, G. sehne, Icel. sin, Sw. sena, Dan. sene; cf. Skr. snāva. √290.]

1. (Anat.) A tendon or tendonous tissue. See Tendon.

2. Muscle; nerve. [R.] Sir J. Davies.

3. Fig.: That which supplies strength or power.

The portion and sinew of her fortune, her marriage dowry. Shak.

The bodies of men, munition, and money, may justly be called the sinews of war. Sir W. Raleigh.

☞ Money alone is often called the sinews of war.

Sin′ew, v. t. [imp. & p. p. Sinewed; p. pr. & vb. n. Sinewing.] To knit together, or make strong with, or as with, sinews. Shak.

Wretches, now stuck up for long tortures . . . might, if properly treated, serve to sinew the state in time of danger. Goldsmith.

Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Noah Porter, editor (Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913). Public domain. Text as transcribed by MICRA, Inc., from Project Gutenberg. Changed for Deep Dive Bible: Greek, which our source spelled in Latin letters, set in Greek letters; entries of one spelling merged into one article; Greek words our source left out (shown as “?”), read from the 1898 printing, from the same plates (the Library of Congress’s copy), where the place could be found with certainty.