delt

noun

ˈdelt 

plural delts

informal

: a large muscle of the shoulder : deltoid

—usually plural

They ought to forget about their lats and delts for a minute and start beefing up the body politic.

—Herbert Muschamp

Remember those great old "Saturday Night Live" bits about the … bodybuilders who kept offering to "pump you up" while flexing the delts of their bulbous foam rubber muscle suits?

—Walter Kirn

Example Sentences

Recent Examples on the Web

Up Davis’s delt-forward performance kept pace while rivals like Deadwyler and Olivia Colman each lost a step. —Vulture, 16 Dec. 2022

The solution is adding a few sets of rear delt raises to your workout. —Jeff Tomko, Men's Health, 2 Nov. 2022

Forget this move at all costs, and instead stick to exercises that do not promote internal rotation of your shoulders, like rear-delt flys or old school back exercises. —Jeff Tomko, Men's Health, 1 Sep. 2022

Finally, Cavaliere works the front delt with a stretch front raise performed at an incline. —Philip Ellis, Men's Health, 12 July 2022

To hit the rear delt, Cavaliere uses the hip hugger, holding a pair of dumbbells at his side and then bringing them up and behind the body, squeezing at the top. —Philip Ellis, Men's Health, 12 July 2022

Your second superset includes another pulling variation with the dumbbell pullover, which works your lats, pecs, triceps, and abs, followed by the quadruped single-arm rear-delt raise. —Rozalynn S. Frazier, SELF, 30 Dec. 2021

Grab a set of free weights for a bent-over row, which works the lats, rear delts, and biceps. —Leah Prinzivalli, SELF, 27 Sep. 2018

Expect to feel it in your entire abdominal wall, as well as your biceps, pecs, delts, lats, and calves. —Meg Lappe, SELF, 3 Oct. 2017

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Word History

First Known Use

1976, in the meaning defined above

Medical Definition

delt

noun

ˈdelt 

: deltoid

—usually used in plural