heartstrings
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English[edit]
Alternative forms[edit]
Etymology[edit]
Pronunciation[edit]
Noun[edit]
heartstrings pl (plural only)
- (obsolete, anatomy) The tendons once thought to brace the heart. [15th–19th c.]
- 1624, Democritus Junior [pseudonym; Robert Burton], The Anatomy of Melancholy: […], 2nd edition, Oxford, Oxfordshire: Printed by John Lichfield and James Short, for Henry Cripps, →OCLC:, I.iii.2.4:
- The midriff and heart-strings do burn and beat very fearfully, and when this vapour or fume is stirred, flieth upward, the heart itself beats […].
- (figurative) One's deepest emotions or inner feelings. [from 16th c.]
- The sad eyes of the orphan tugged at my heartstrings.
- (anatomy) The cord-like tendons that connect the papillary muscles to the tricuspid valve and the mitral valve in the heart.
- 2002, Beryl Stretch, BTEC National Health Studies:
- These are the so-called heartstrings or chordae tendineae.
- 2014, Crissy Shreve, BMom:
- As a result, one or more of his chordae tendineae, or heartstrings, ruptured.
Synonyms[edit]
- (cord-like tendons): chorda tendinea/chordae tendineae
Derived terms[edit]
Translations[edit]
the tendons once thought to brace the heart
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one's deepest emotions or inner feelings
cord-like tendons in the heart
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