strongman

plural strongmen

1. A man who performs feats of strength, as in competitions or as an attraction in a circus.

   Early strongmen like Eugen Sandow (the model for the Mr. Olympia trophy) and late-1800s "Iron-Master" Arthur Saxon (who wrote the book on one-hand overhead moves) kicked off the first movement of guys pumping iron.

   2026, Greg Presto, “Timeless Gains”, in Men's Health, volume 41, number 2, page 14

   2 more examples

   Giovanni Battista Belzoni, the famous Egyptian archeologist, who was a man of gigantic stature, began his public career as a strongman at the Bartholomew Fair, under the management of Gyngell, the conjuror, who dubbed him The Young Hercules.

   1920, Harry Houdini, chapter 11, in Miracle Mongers and Their Methods

   Opposite him was the Fat Lady, red-faced and laughing. Beside her, the India-rubber Man wound spaghetti on to a fork with an expression of deepest melancholy. Further down the table, the Strong Man, an overcoat covering his leopard-skin, talked garrulously.

   1957, Sydney J. Bounds, The Robot Brains, London: Digit Books, page 26

2. A forceful or brutal person, usually a ruler or tyrant.

   Kazakhstan’s explosion into unrest this week presents a stark warning to the strongman autocrats of the world: Leaving office is perilous. Since the Cold War’s end, a staggering 70 percent of governments headed by strongmen collapsed after the ruler departed, according to one data set.

   2022 January 7, Max Fisher, “Behind Kazakhstan Unrest, the ‘Strongman’s Dilemma’”, in The New York Times, →ISSN, archived from the original on 05 Mar 2022