Green’s Dictionary of Slang

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.
1927		Chicago Dly News 20 June q. in Illinois Association for Criminal Justice et al. Illinois Crime Survey (1929) 902: ‘Two rival ‘mobs,’ which, besides owning and operating a majority of the places, have ‘muscled in’ on a forty per cent basis on nearly every independent operator of any significance.
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.