Biceps
Pronunciation
- UK IPA: /ˈbaɪ.sɛps/
Origin
From Latin biceps ("double-headed, two peaked"), from bis ("double") + caput ("head").
Full definition of biceps
Noun
- (anatomy) Any muscle having two heads.
- 1901, Michael Foster & Lewis E. Shore, Physiology for Beginners‎, page 73The leg is bent by the action of the flexor muscles situated on the back of the thigh, the chief of these being called the biceps of the leg.
- Specifically, the biceps brachii, the flexor of the elbow.
- 1996, Robert Kennedy & Dwayne Hines II, Animal Arms‎, page 21The arm muscles are the show muscles of the physique. When someone asks to "see your muscles," they are most likely referring to your arms, and more specifically, your biceps.
- (informal) The upper arm, especially the collective muscles of the upper arm.
- 1964, Dec, Muscles are His Business, Today, Stonewall's flexed biceps measure 18 inches around.
- 2005, Lisa Plumley, Once Upon a Christmas‎, page 144Biting her lip, she held his biceps for balance and waded farther.
- (prosody) A point in a metrical pattern that can be filled either with one long syllable (a longum) or two short syllables (two brevia)
- 1987, Martin Litchfield West, Introduction to Greek MetreAlso it is advisable to distinguish this ( ˘ ˘ ) — ˘ ˘ — rhythm, where the princeps was probably shorter in duration than the biceps (as in the dactylic hexameter), from true (marching) anapaests, in which they were equal.
- 2000, James I. Porter, Nietzsche and the Philology of the Future, page 347This means that in the metrical sequence... recited in ordinary speech rhythm, the princeps occupied a slightly shorter time than the biceps (5:6), and if a long syllable was used to fill the biceps it had to be dragged a little...
Usage notes
Now often mistaken as a plural form; see bicep. An archaic plural bicipites, borrowed from the Latin, also exists.
Synonyms
- (the biceps brachii) biceps brachii, biceps cubiti
- (the upper arm) guns, pythons, upper arm
Antonyms
- (prosody) princeps