biceps

From Latin biceps (“double-headed, two peaked”), from bis (“double”) + caput (“head”).

• (UK, US) IPA^(key): /ˈbaɪ.sɛps/

• Audio (US)

  (file)

biceps (plural biceps or bicepses)

1. (anatomy) Any muscle having two heads.
   • 1901, Michael Foster & Lewis E. Shore, Physiology for Beginners‎, page 73

     The leg is bent by the action of the flexor muscles situated on the back of the thigh, the chief of these being called the biceps of the leg.

2. Specifically, the biceps brachii, the flexor of the elbow.
   • 1996, Robert Kennedy & Dwayne Hines II, Animal Arms‎, page 21

     The arm muscles are the show muscles of the physique. When someone asks to "see your muscles," they are most likely referring to your arms, and more specifically, your biceps.

3. (informal) The upper arm, especially the collective muscles of the upper arm.
   • 1964 Dec, “Muscles are His Business”, in Ebony‎, volume 20, number 2, page 147:

     Today, Stonewall's flexed biceps measure 18 inches around.

   • 2005, Lisa Plumley, Once Upon a Christmas‎, page 144

     Biting her lip, she held his biceps for balance and waded farther.

4. (prosody) A point in a metrical pattern that can be filled either with one long syllable (a longum) or two short syllables (two brevia)
   • 1987, Martin Litchfield West, Introduction to Greek Metre

     Also it is advisable to distinguish this ( ˘ ˘ ) — ˘ ˘ — rhythm, where the princeps was probably shorter in duration than the biceps (as in the dactylic hexameter), from true (marching) anapaests, in which they were equal.

   • 2000, James I. Porter, Nietzsche and the Philology of the Future, page 347

     This means that in the metrical sequence […] recited in ordinary speech rhythm, the princeps occupied a slightly shorter time than the biceps (5:6), and if a long syllable was used to fill the biceps it had to be dragged a little […]

• Now often mistaken as a plural form; see bicep. An archaic plural bicipites, borrowed from the Latin, also exists.

• (the biceps brachii): biceps brachii, biceps cubiti
• (the upper arm): guns, pipes, pythons, upper arm

• (prosody): princeps

• bicep
• biceps curl

Borrowed from Latin biceps (“two-headed”).

• IPA^(key): /ˈbi.sɛps/

• Audio (NL)

  (file)

• Hyphenation: bi‧ceps
• Rhymes: -isɛps

biceps m (plural bicepsen, diminutive bicepsje n)

1. (anatomy) biceps; any two-headed muscle
2. the biceps brachii
   • 2007, C. A. Bastiaanssen, Anatomie en Fysiologie‎, page 387

     De biceps en de triceps zijn elkaars antagonisten.

     The biceps and the triceps are each other's antagonist.

• (biceps brachii): armbuigspier, elleboogbuiger, spierbal

• tweekoppige

From Latin biceps (“double-headed”).

• IPA^(key): /bi.sɛps/

biceps m (plural biceps)

1. (anatomy) biceps (any two-headed muscle)
2. the biceps brachii
   • 1978, Freddy Buache, Cinéma Anglais, page 154

     Mais Bronson se définit uniquement par son physique (biceps, démarche souple) et non par la densité de sa présence ce qui limite ses possibilités d'emploi.

     But Bronson is defined only by his physique (biceps, supple gait) and not by the density of his presence which limits his employment possibilities.

• avoir du biceps
• biceps brachial
• biceps crural
• biceps fémoral

• “biceps” in le Trésor de la langue française informatisé (The Digitized Treasury of the French Language).

• bicapitēs
• bicipēs

From bis (“twice”) +‎ -ceps (“headed”).

• (Classical) IPA^(key): /ˈbi.keps/, [ˈbɪ.kɛps]
• (Ecclesiastical) IPA^(key): /ˈbi.t͡ʃeps/, [ˈbiː.t͡ʃeps]

• Audio (Classical)

  (file)

• Audio (Ecclesiastical)

  (file)

biceps (genitive bicipitis); third declension

1. double-headed, having two heads
   • 8 CE, Ovid, Fasti 1.65:

     Iane biceps, anni tacite labentis origo

     Two-headed Janus, source of the quietly passing year

2. (of mountains) having two summits or peaks
   • 8 CE, Ovid, Metamorphoses 2.221:

     ardet in inmensum geminatis ignibus Aetne
     Parnasosque biceps et Eryx et Cynthus et Othrys

     Aetna blazes in immense doubled flames
     and twin-peaked Parnasus and Eryx, Cynthus and Othrys

3. (of swords) double-edged
   • 405, Jerome and others, Vulgate, Proverbia 5:4b

     acuta quasi gladius biceps

     as sharp as a two-edged sword

4. (by extension) divided into two parts

Third declension.

• (double-headed): anceps

• anceps
• caput
• centiceps
• triceps

• biceps in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879) A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
• biceps in Charlton T. Lewis (1891) An Elementary Latin Dictionary, New York: Harper & Brothers

From Latin biceps (“two-headed”).

• IPA^(key): /ˈbʲi.t͡sɛps/

biceps m inan

1. biceps brachii

• 1970, Stanisław Lorentz, Walka o Dobra Kultury, Warszawa 1939-1945, Volume 2, page 27

  I właśnie wtedy przyszło mi na myśl uratowanie prasy powstańczej, którą bardzo troskliwie zbierałem do 2 września, to jest do dnia podpalenia naszego domu, a jednocześnie dnia, kiedy zostałem ranny w prawy biceps.

• 1994, Związek Literatów Polskich, Dialog: Miesięcznik Poświęcony Dramaturgii Współczesnej, page 13

  Podwija rękaw i napina starczy biceps.
  LEO: Dziękuję, stąd widzę.
  STARZEC (klepie się po bicepsie): Niebywałe!

  He [Starzec] rolls up his sleeve and tenses elderly biceps.
  LEO: Thanks, I see it from here.
  STARZEC (taps himself on the biceps): Unheard of!

• biceps in Polish dictionaries at PWN

Borrowed from French biceps, from Latin biceps (“two-headed”).

biceps m (plural bicepși)

1. biceps; any two-headed muscle
2. the biceps brachii

From Latin biceps (“two-headed”).

• IPA^(key): /bǐtseps/
• Hyphenation: bi‧ceps

bìceps m (Cyrillic spelling бѝцепс)

1. biceps

• “biceps” in Hrvatski jezični portal