brawn

Etymology

From Middle English brawne, from Old French braon (“slice of meat, fleshy part, buttock”), from Frankish *brādon, *brādan, accusative form of *brādō (“roasted meat, ham”), from Proto-Germanic *brēdô (“meat, roast”), of uncertain further origin, but possibly from Proto-Indo-European *bʰreh₁- (“to burn, heat”). Akin to Old High German brāto (“tender meat”) (German Braten (“roast”)), Old English brǣde, brǣd (“flesh, meat”), Old Norse bráð (“raw meat”).

noun

1. Strong muscles or lean flesh, especially of the arm, leg or thumb.
2. Physical strength; muscularity.
   The builders at the site had more brawn than brain.
   The man was a bruiser, the sort who'd learned his science in tavern brawls. Given his size and lack of agility, he relied on his brawn to win. In any wrestling match, Crowley would triumph easily. 2000, Stephanie Laurens, A Secret Love, Avon Books, published 2000, page 349
   The two men were husky, picked for their brawn by the little man who sauntered into the room. 2008, Michael Mandaville, Stealing Thunder, Dog Ear Publishing, published 2008, page 562
   The youth agreed to the scheme and used his brawn to begin moving pieces into place, starting by moving the planet Rann into the Thanagarian star system […] 2010, Martin Pasko, Robert Greenberger, The Essential Superman Encyclopedia, Del Ray, published 2010, page 218
3. (chiefly Britain) Head cheese; a terrine made from the head of a pig or calf; originally boar's meat.
   Now if your Majesty would have our bristles To bind your mortar with, or fill our colons With rich blood, or make brawn out of our gristles, In policy—ask else your royal Solons— You ought to give us hog-wash and clean straw, And sties well thatched; besides it is the law! 1820, Percy Bysshe Shelley, Oedipus Tyrannus; Or, Swellfoot The Tyrant: A Tragedy in Two Acts
   It was brawn and shape for high tea. 1978, Jane Gardam, God on the Rocks, Abacus, published 2014, page 111
4. (UK, dialectal) A boar.
   And loud as brawns wer [they] snoring, 1821, John Stagg, The Cumbrian Minstrel: Being a Poetical Miscellany
   THE village of Brancepath, pleasantly situated at the distance of four miles and three- quarters south-west by west of Durham, is said to have derived its name (a corruption of Brawn's-path) from a brawn of vast size, … 1842, Moses Aaron Richardson, The Borderer's Table Book: Or, Gatherings of the Local History

verb

1. (transitive) Make fat, especially of a boar.
2. (intransitive) Become fat, especially of a boar.