muscle, v. — Green’s Dictionary of Slang

muscle v.

1. (orig. US, also muscle up) to put pressure on, to coerce with threats of violence, poss. to beat up; cit. 1802–19 is properly a pun on SE mussels.

c.1802–19		‘Betty Brill’ in Holloway & Black I (1975) 310: A secret soon came out, / A rival he came in, / Who muscles cried about / And muscled me – don’t grin.
1929		Chicago Trib. 18 Jan. 21/4: A certain gentleman in the illicit spirits business was accosted by two sinister characters, who ‘muscled’ him, [...] removing from his wallet the sum of $150 [DA].
1935		(con. 1920s) J.T. Farrell Judgement Day in Studs Lonigan (1936) 518: We can’t muscle the King out.
1949		R. Chandler Little Sister 149: Hicks [...] muscled the other guy out.
1952		W.R. Burnett Little Men, Big World 17: Harry had muscled it in some way — a great little muscle artist, not above blackmail.
1963		M. Spillane Return of the Hood 41: He took his first fall, did his time in Sing Sing, then came back and muscled Treetop right out of the business.
1976		Cab Calloway Of Minnie the Moocher and Me 4: The mob muscled Moe out.
1986		C. Stroud Close Pursuit (1988) 148: Give me the Ruiz case, I can muscle it through without having to go official.
1990		(con. early 1950s) J. Ellroy L.A. Confidential 158: He could muscle the money out of her. [Ibid.] 430: Hotel good guy/bad guy rankled – they should be muscling Dudley at the Victory.
2001		(con. 1964–8) J. Ellroy Cold Six Thousand 191: He muscled Webb Spurgeon. He explained stat-rape statutes. He detailed consent laws. Spurgeon gulped. Spurgeon kowtowed.
2005		W.D. Myers Autobiog. of My Dead Brother 46: ‘I heard Mason wanted to muscle up the guy in the bodega’.
2012		M. McBride Frank Sinatra in a Blender [ebook] It sounds like it could be the two that muscled you.

2. (US) to move something by force, to use one’s strength to achieve something.

1905		J. London in Century Mag. (N.Y.) Nov. 125: With the revolver still in the right hand, he muscled his body down into the hole .
1913		H. Kephart Our Southern Highlanders 282: ‘I ain't goin' to bed it no longer" (lie abed). ‘We can muscle this log up’ .
1933		Ersine Und. and Prison Sl.
1949		N. Algren Man with the Golden Arm 176: You two guys muscle me back in some corner.
1953		Randolph & Wilson Down in the Holler 266: You-uns can muscle that little rock easy.
1978		R. Caron Go-Boy! 291: Three young toughs [...] obviously intent on muscling me off the sidewalk.
1997		L. Davies Candy 25: If we muscle it, we can carry all the gear between the two of us.
2001		G. Pelecanos Right As Rain 244: Strange politely muscled his way into a position at the end of the stick.
2012		T. Robinson ‘Legendary [...] Ralphie O’Malley’ in Dirty Words [ebook] Ever tried to muscle a small tank through the snow?

3. (US) to bluff.

1934

H. Sebastian ‘Negro Sl. in Lincoln University’ in AS IX:4 288: muscle. Artificiality; bluff; wind.

4. (US drugs) to inject a drug into a muscle rather than a vein.

2021

T. Swerdlow Straight Dope [ebook] I come to [with] the needle still in my thigh. I was trying to play it safe, so I just ‘muscled’ it.

In phrases

muscle around (v.)

to search energetically.

1937

P. Cheyney Dames Don’t Care (1960) 13: I come out to Palm Springs an’ started to muscle around for a job.

muscle in (v.) (orig. US)

1. to force an entrance, to use violence to gain something one desires.

1929		W.R. Burnett Little Caesar (1932) 122: Maybe he could muscle in on the North Side graft.
1933		C. Himes ‘Her Whole Existence’ in Coll. Stories (1990) 95: When the gangsters saw that he was making money, they had ‘muscled in’.
1942		N. Algren Never Come Morning (1988) 20: So long as them big guys don’t get the idea somebody’s tryin’ to muscle in ...
1955		B. Schulberg On the Waterfront (1964) 259: I know the guts it took to muscle in on this thing.
1962		P. Crump Burn, Killer, Burn! 347: Five ear-shattering reports [...] and I knew the ‘Independent’ had been muscled in on.
1971		Wodehouse Much Obliged, Jeeves 66: Why people don’t object to somebody they don’t know from Adam muscling into their homes.
1980		E. Folb Runnin’ Down Some Lines 103: Muscling in on someone’s territory can provoke both angry words and sometimes blows.
1990		D. Campbell That Was Business, This Is Personal 5: Some [drug dealers] muscled in to existing markets, others helped create their own.
1998		Hip-Hop Connection Dec. 4: Johnson (Fishburne) returns to...find that Dutch Schultz (Roth) is muscling in on his lucrative numbers racket.
2000		M.E. Dassad ‘Chickenhawk’ at www.cultdeadcow.com 🌐 The pimps hassled me at first for muscling in on their turf, but since I started doing commission work for Nunzio’s crowd, they leave me the hell alone.
2012		T.P. McCauley ‘Lady Madeline’s Dive’ in ThugLit Sept./Oct. [ebook] ‘Rothmann would never let you muscle in on one of Archie’s gambling dens’.
2020		G. Armstrong Young Team 9: The McIntyres think he’s tryin tae muscle in n they tan him a beaut.
2023		A. Nette Orphan Road 204: ‘He had enough on his plate with the cops and other crims trying to muscle in on the take from the robbery’.

2. to gain admission to, to get oneself involved.

1928		T.A. Dorgan in Zwilling TAD Lex. (1993) 58: Panning the mugg who ‘muscles in’ on the boss each day as he goes to chow.
1937		P. Cheyney Dames Don’t Care (1960) 23: He muscles in on a big stock-pushin’ racket an’ he walks out of it with a quarter of a million dollars profit.
1952		(con. 1948) G. Mandel Flee the Angry Strangers 323: The ‘squares’ were muscling in, making life serious.
1959		E. De Roo Young Wolves 71: Whatta you want, anyhow? [...] Muscle in?
1985		N. Pileggi Wiseguy (2001) 160: Henry started to muscle his way into a liquor-distribution route.
2023		M. Herron Secret Hours 88: ‘Is that the real reason for all this? To keep De Vries from muscling in on your territory?’.

muscle up (v.)

(N.Z. prison) to arm oneself.

2001

D. Looser Boobslang [U. Canterbury D.Phil. thesis] 121/1: muscle up v. to arm oneself .