heartstrings

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English

Alternative forms

Etymology

From heart +‎ strings.

Pronunciation

  • (UK) IPA(key): /ˈhɑːtstɹɪŋz/
  • Audio (US)(file)

Noun

heartstrings pl (plural only)

  1. (obsolete, anatomy) The tendons once thought to brace the heart.
    • 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 .
  2. (figurative) One's deepest emotions or inner feelings.
    The sad eyes of the orphan tugged at my heartstrings.
  3. (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.

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