hired muscle
Proposed by a contributor, not yet supported by evidence.
Meaning · English
People hired to intimidate or use physical force
Nghĩa · Tiếng Việt
Những người được thuê để đe dọa hoặc sử dụng lực vật chất
Machine-translated — suggest a fix
Literally: muscle that has been hired
Where it’s used:
Used
Widespread English
Examples
The company used hired muscle to break up the union protest
AI-drafted example auto-approved by rule (illustrative, not a corpus attestation)
Sources & notes
Listed in Wiktionary’s “English idioms” category (retrieved 2026-07-29); definition pending editorial review. Definition drafted by AI (@cf/meta/llama-3.3-70b-instruct-fp8-fast) and auto-approved by rule on 2026-07-31; pending editor spot-check.
Common questions
What does “hired muscle” mean?
People hired to intimidate or use physical force Literally: muscle that has been hired
Is “hired muscle” formal or informal?
No register label has been reviewed yet — treat it as neutral and check the usage notes above.