gristle

Meanings

1. 1
   noun

   tough, flexible cartilage, especially when encountered in meat

   The dogs had left only bone and gristle behind.

2. 2
   noun

   figurative: toughness, resilience, or the material from which strength develops

   Years of hard training put gristle into the young team's resolve.

From Middle English gristel, from Old English gristel, 'cartilage,' a Germanic word of uncertain deeper origin. Its physical toughness encouraged later figurative uses for resilience or strength not yet fully hardened.

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