body-builder meaning: definition, quotations

body-builder

noun

Alternative Alternative form of bodybuilder (“one who builds a muscular physique”).

An excellent example, showing the possibility of the development of the muscles of the back, which are commonly neglected, is that of Professor Robert J. Roberts, the noted body-builder now connected with the gymnasium of the Young Men’s Christian Association of Boston.1891 January 2, “Strong Men of the World. Who Are the Distinguished Samsons of the Present Day? Bennett, a San Francisco Lifter. […]”, in The Examiner, volume LII, number 2, San Francisco, Calif., page 10, columns 1–2:
The Gymnasium prospectus may have reached you before this meets your eye; at all events we hope you will give it a careful perusal, and mentally resolve to join the host of body-builders that is growing in numbers every day.1897 September 28, Mrs. A. P. Johnson, “W. C. A.”, in The Dayton Evening Herald, volume XVII, Dayton, Oh., page 3, column 6:

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Leonard DaLuz, a 26-year-old muscular body-builder, was crowned “Mr. Rock Hill” to highlight the 1961 Rock Hill Weight Lifting Championships and physique contest Saturday night at the Stadium Hut.1961 May 29, “DaLuz wins physique title”, in Evening Herald, volume 84, number 162, Rock Hill, S.C., page 7, column 2:
AMONG the muscular body-builders in the first-floor Newcastle gymnasium, Neville Jason, dark, slim and smelling just slightly of after shave, looked very out of place.1970 March 23, Peter Anthony, “It’s heavy work keeping fit for the stage”, in The Journal, number 38,506, Newcastle upon Tyne, page 8:
Compare him to Christopher Reeve of the modern Superman movies, who was sculpted like a body-builder.1997, Riki Anne Wilchins, Read My Lips: Sexual Subversion and the End of Gender, Ithaca, N.Y.: Firebrand Books, →ISBN, page 38:

Something that is beneficial to the body.

Do not imagine I am not in sympathy with the game. I am, most heartily, with this and most out-of-door sports. I am only combating a prevailing belief that they are beneficial body-builders.1886 April 6, Mary E. Allen, “Gymnastics for Women”, in Boston Evening Transcript, volume LIX, number 18,082, Boston, Mass., page 6, column 3:
It is not a drug; it is a pre-digested food, and is absorbed at once. Strength, plumpness and digestive tone follows its use immediately. It is a body-builder, pleasant to the taste, and soon enables you to digest any food.1893 September 30, The Pre-Digested Food Co., ““Would He Were Fatter.””, in The Boston Daily Globe, volume XLIV, number 92, Boston, Mass., page 8, column 4:

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“The office of the gymnasium,” says Mr. Richards in the September Century, “is two-fold, educational and sanative. It is not primarily a place of exploits nor designed for teaching dangerous feats of skill. Its chief end is educational. The term, ‘body-builder,’ largely employed by the best instructors, well describes its main purpose.”1894 September 6, “Women’s Classes: In the Gymnasium at the Young Women’s Department, W. C. A.”, in The Dayton Evening Herald, volume XIV, Dayton, Oh., page 3, column 5:
Angier’s Petroleum Emulsion / It is a body-builder and a disease-destroyer.1894 October 18, “A Food=Medicine”, in Biddeford Daily Journal, volume XI, number 244, Biddeford, Me., page [4], column 2:
Sleep is the great physician—the body-builder, the nerve-bracer, the brain-clearer; […]1895 May 3, “The Pilgrim Spring Bed”, in The Boston Daily Globe, volume XLVII, number 123, Boston, Mass., page 6, column 8:
The members of the various classes, under Professor Schatzel’s direction, have been getting in shape for some time, in order to acquit themselves in the best possible manner for the event, and the exhibition Monday evening is intended to show to the public just what the gymnasium can do as a body-builder, and the exercises which are practiced to develop the muscles, and put them in a healthy condition.1895 November 23, “Gymnasium Exhibition. First Entertainment of the Season to Be Given Monday Night.”, in The Richmond Dispatch, number 13,826, Richmond, Va., page 2, column 2:

One who builds vehicle bodies.

WANTED, a good BODY-BUILDER and WHEEL-WRIGHT.1867 January 14, “Situations Vacant and Wanted”, in The Age, number 3808, Melbourne, Vic., page 1, column 5:
He was a body-builder by trade, and was apprenticed to Mr. Hornsby, at Grantham, and was making his way to Bury to try and get work at Mr. Boby’s; […]1868 February 4, “County Petty Session, Bury, Jan. 29”, in The Bury and Norwich Post, and Suffolk Herald, number 4467, Bury, Suffolk, page 6, column 6:

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WANTED—A BODY-BUILDER—STEADY EMployment given to a competent man1872 April 9, “Trades”, in The Chicago Tribune, volume 25, number 238, Chicago, Ill., page 6, column 7:
WANTED—ONE BLACKSMITH ON SPRING-wagon and buggy work and repairing; one body-builder; a good draughtsman on buggy and light-carriage work.1875 May 2, “Trades”, in The Chicago Daily Tribune, volume 28, number 251, Chicago, Ill., page 12, column 1:
CARRIAGE AND WAGON BODY-BUILDERS1880 May 8, “Wanted—Male Help”, in The Cincinnati Enquirer, volume XXXVIII, number 129, Cincinnati, Oh., page 3, column 2:
I have in employ a first-class carriage ironer,a No. 1 body-builder, and the very best of carriage trimmers.1881 May 26, H. B. Troxel, “Great Bargains! At H. B. Troxel’s For New Work in the Carriage & Spring Wagon Line”, in Hiawatha Dispatch, volume XII, number 3, Hiawatha, Kan., page [3], column 3: