| 释义 |
▪ I. leg, n.|lɛg|
Also 3–7 pl. legges, (4–7 leggis, leggys), 4–5 lege, 6–7 legge.
[a. ON. legg-r leg, (in compounds) leg or arm, limb (Sw. lägg, Da. læg, calf of the leg):—OTeut. type *lagjo-z.
Cf. Lombard lagi ‘coxa super genuculum’ (Ed. Roth. 384). By some scholars the word is referred to the West Aryan root *laq- of Gr. λακτίζειν to kick, L. lacertus arm.]
I. The limb.
1. a. One of the organs of support and locomotion in an animal body; esp. one of the two lower limbs of the human body; in narrower sense, the part of the limb between the knee and foot.
abdominal leg or false leg, one of the fleshy legs which support the abdomen of some insects and which disappear in the perfect insect. Barbados leg: see Barbados. See also black-legs n.
c1275Lay. 1876 Hii soten hire legges [c 1205 sconken]. 13..K. Alis. 1808 He drawith leg over othir. c1340Cursor M. 7449 (Fairf.) Goly..of body grete of leggis lange. a1400–50Alexander 5473 Wormes As large as a mans lege. 14..Lydg. & Burgh Secrees 2681 Smale leggys be tokne of symple konnyng. 1530Palsgr. 238/2 Legge fro the kne to the fote. 1588Shakes. Tit. A. iv. ii. 102 All the water in the Ocean, Can neuer turne the Swans blacke legs to white. 1667Milton P.L. x. 512 His Leggs entwining Each other..down he fell, A monstrous Serpent. 1837Dickens Pickw. xix, ‘What's the matter with the dogs' legs?’ whispered Mr. Winkle. 1864Tennyson Grandmother iii, ‘Here's a leg for a babe of a week!’ says doctor. 1896Newton Dict. Birds s.v. Stork, Its contrasted plumage..with its bright red bill and legs, makes it a conspicuous and beautiful object.
Proverb. Phrase (vulgar).1662Wilson Cheats ii. iv. (1664) 26 All's well, and as right as my Leg. 1719D'Urfey Pills IV. 141 This Lady is as right as my Leg.
b. esp. with reference to the use of the legs in standing, walking, running, etc.
1382Wyclif Ps. cxlvii. 10 He shal not han wil in the strengthe of hors; ne in the leggis of a man shall be wel plesid to hym. 1555J. Proctor Wyat's Rebell. 14 b, He..ranne away no faster than his legges could carye hym. 1596Shakes. Merch. V. ii. ii. 6 Vse your legs, take the start, run awaie. 1638Brome Antipodes i. vi. Wks. 1873 III. 248 Mandevile went farre. Beyond all English legges that I can read of. 1749Fielding Tom Jones vii. vii, I thank Heaven my legs are very able to carry me. 1839Sir C. Napier in Bruce Life iv. (1885) 132 Gashes that would frighten a thousand of their companions into the vigorous use of their legs. 1867Baker Nile Tribut. xi. 287 He would rather trust to his legs.
transf. and fig.1590Pasquil's Apol. i. C iv b, He perceiueth not.., that I haue his leg in a string still. 1597J. Payne Royal Exch. 15 Buyenge and sellinge is one of the leggs whervpon euery common welthe dothe stand. 1635Quarles Embl. iv. iii. 193 The sprightly voice of sinew⁓strengthning Pleasure Can lend my bedrid soule both legs and leisure. 1652J. Collinges Caveat for Prof. xviii. (1653) 77 Mr. Fisher..saves himselfe upon the legs of his old distinction. a1700Dryden Ovid's Met. viii. Baucis & Philemon 148 They haste, and what their tardy Feet deny'd, The trusty Staff (their better Leg) supply'd. 1780Cowper Progr. Err. 561 One leg by truth supported, one by lies, They sidle to the goal.
2. Phrases.
a. General references. all legs and wings, said of an overgrown awkward young person; also Naut., of an overmasted vessel. on the leg, (of a dog or horse) long in the leg, leggy. the boot is on the other leg (see boot n.3 1 b). to pull (or draw Sc.) a person's leg, to impose upon, ‘get at’, befool him (colloq.). † to fight at the leg (see quot. 1785). to give a person a leg up, to help him to climb up or get over an obstacle, mount (a horse, etc.); fig., to help over a difficulty; hence leg-up n., a help, support, boost. to hang a leg (see hang v. 4 c). to have a bone in one's leg (see bone n. 9). to have a leg: to be physically attractive, to have a fine appearance (Obs.). to have one's leg over the harrows, to be out of control. to lift, lift up (or heave up) the leg: said of a dog voiding urine. to show a leg: to get out of bed; to make one's appearance. to be tied by the leg: to be prevented from doing something by some circumstance.
1591Shakes. Two Gent. iv. iv. 41 When did'st thou see me heaue vp my leg, and make water against a Gentlewomans farthingale. 16022nd Pt. Return fr. Parnass. iv. ii. 1659 Nor any bold presumptuous curr shall dare To lifte his legge against his sacred dust. 1785Grose Dict. Vulgar T. s.v. Leg, To fight at the leg, to take unfair advantages, it being held unfair by back sword players to strike at the leg. 1816Scott Old Mort. viii, ‘She has her leg ower the harrows now’, said Cuddie, ‘stop her wha can’. a1817Jane Austen Persuasion (1818) II. vi. 116 She, poor soul, is tied by the leg. She has a blister on one of her heels. 1831B. Hall Fragments Voy. & Trav. I. 247, I say, Master Doughy, do you mean to relieve the deck tonight? Here it's almost two bells, and you have hardly shewn a leg yet. 1832F. Trollope Dom. Manners Amer. I. xviii. 281 We should be obliged to pass the whole of Monday there, as the coach..would not arrive..till Tuesday morning. Thus..we were to be tied by the leg for four-and-twenty hours. 1837Dickens Pickw. xvi, The wall is very low, sir, and your servant will give you a leg up. 1837Marryat Dog-fiend x, [He] came shambling, all legs and wings, up the hatchway. 1854‘C. Bede’ Further Adventures Verdant Green vii. 61 He used to sing out, ‘You must show a leg, sir!’ and..kept on hammering at the door till I did. 1865Milton & Cheadle N.W. Passage by Land i. 13 The dogs kept tumbling off..until hauled back again with the help of a ‘leg up’ from the people inside [a stage coach]. 1867Anderson Rhymes 17 (E.D.D.) He preached, an' at last drew the auld body's leg, Sae the kirk got the gatherins o' our Aunty Meg. 1867Smyth Sailor's Word-bk., Legs and wings: see Overmasted. 1879G. Meredith Egoist I. ii. 16 And, says Mrs Mountstuart, while grand phrases were mouthing round about him ‘You see he had a leg’. 1888W. B. Churchward Blackbirding 216 Then I shall be able to pull the leg of that chap Mike. He is always trying to do me. 1890W. E. Norris Misadventure iv, She was now devoting all her energies to giving them a leg up. 1893Kennel Gaz. Aug. 213/3 A little dog..with..good carriage of stern, but a trifle ‘on the leg’ and out of coat. Ibid. 215/2. 1899 Pall Mall Mag. Apr 474 ‘She wouldn't marry you?’ ‘My dear fellow, the boot was on the other leg. I wouldn't marry her.’ 1901Chambers's Jrnl. 27 July 554/2 He had..strong introductions to a great financier in Park Lane, who seemed to have good reasons for obliging him in such matters as club nominations and social ‘legs-up’ generally. 1901J. N. McIlwraith Curious Career R. Campbell iv. 45 He might not have managed to mount had not Gib been at hand to give him ‘a leg up’. 1908Westm. Gaz. 28 Mar. 2/2 He first wore breeches at the Coronation of Queen Victoria, and there was a curious anticipation of a phrase immortal in literature in his statement that his first Court suit revealed to him ‘that he had a leg’. 1916‘Taffrail’ Pincher Martin ii. 19 All hands! turn out, turn out, turn out! show a leg, show a leg, show a leg! 1936C. S. Lewis Allegory of Love ii. 72 We can all but hear the voices shouting ‘Show a leg—show a leg’. 1937B. de Holthoir tr. Duhamel's Pasquier Chron. i. 73 Never mind, if you think it will give him a leg up. 1946J. Irving Royal Navalese 156 Show a leg!.. The boatswain's mates' early morning shout..is a direct link with pre-Nelsonic days when certain women were permitted to live on war⁓ships in harbour. 1950A. L. Rowse England of Elizabeth vi. 233 The family owed its leg-up in the world to Robert's grandfather. 1957New Yorker 12 Jan. 25/1 For Nora, who came from a poor and an ugly lower-middle-class home, political action was a leg up. 1965Observer (Colour Suppl.) 30 May 34 On the leg. A horse whose legs look too long for his body—he has a lot of daylight underneath him. 1969‘P. Alding’ Murder among Thieves xii. 12 Kerr awoke to find someone was rocking his shoulders... ‘Come on, me sleeping beauty, rise and shine, show a leg,’ said P. C. Mottram, with indecent cheerfulness. 1969Listener 9 Jan. 43/2 The boys are here..because local parents think it will give them a social leg-up. 1973Weekly News (Glasgow) 11 Aug. 26/2 Then he got the leg-up on a horse called Native Copper. 1974Times 5 Feb. 24/5 (Advt.), Want a leg up? There's more than one way with N.O.P. Secretary.
b. With reference to walking or running. to change leg, (of a horse) to change step. to have the legs of, to travel faster than, to outrun. to put (or set) one's best leg foremost, to go at one's best pace; to exert oneself to the utmost. to shake a leg, to dance. to shake a loose (or free) leg, to lead an irregular life, live freely. to stretch one's legs, † (a) to increase one's stride, walk fast (obs.); (b) to exercise the legs by walking. to take to (or betake oneself to) one's legs, to run, run away; so to take leg (lit. and fig.), give legs.
1530Palsgr. 749/1, I take me to my legges, I flye a waye, je me mets en fuyte. 1579Tomson Calvin's Serm. Tim. 17/2 They..set the better legge before. 1592Shakes. Rom. & Jul. i. iv. 34 Come knocke and enter, and no sooner in, But euery man betake him to his legs. 1653Walton Angler i. 1, I have stretch'd my legs up Tottenham Hil to overtake you. 1790J. Fisher Poems 83 When ance her chastity took leg. 1834Ainsworth Rookwood (1878) iii. ix. 233 While luck lasts, the highwayman shakes a loose leg! 1844W. H. Maxwell Sports & Adv. Scotl. xii. (1855) 116 We have landed to..‘stretch our legs’. 1856Mayhew Gt. World Lond. 87 Those who love to ‘shake a free leg’, and lead a roving life, as they term it. 1857G. A. Lawrence Guy Liv. ix, He [the horse] is in a white lather of foam, and changes his leg twice as he approaches. 1861Hughes Tom Brown at Oxf. xli, The beggar had the legs of me. 1881Besant & Rice Ten Yrs.' Tenant v, It would be positively indecent for a man at a hundred to shake a leg as merrily as a man at thirty. 1882Besant All Sorts & Cond. xviii, I explain that the stage is ready for them, if they like to act;..or the dancing-room, should they wish to shake a leg. 1883Daily News 15 May 7/2 The best way is to make a snatch and give legs for it, it's better than loitering. 1886Hobart Sk. Life 135, I knew we had the legs of her [a gunboat].
c. on one's legs: (a) in a standing attitude; said esp. of a parliamentary or other public speaker; so jocularly on one's hind legs; (b) well enough to go about; ‘on one's feet’; (c) fig. in a prosperous condition, established, esp. in to set (a person) upon his legs; also transf. of things. to fall on one's legs: to be lucky or successful. to get on one's hind legs: lit. of a horse, hence jocularly of a person, to go into a rage. to stand (or † come) upon one's own legs: to be self-reliant. not a leg to stand on: no support whatever.
1594Nashe Unfort. Trav. sig. B4 Faine he would have patcht out a polt-foot tale, but (God knowes) it had not one true leg to stand on. 1624Sanderson Serm. I. 251 A pound, that would..put him into fresh trading, set him upon his legs, and make him a man for ever. a1628Preston Effectual Faith (1631) 54 Then a man cometh upon his own legs. 1666Pepys Diary 7 Jan., I do fear those two families..are quite broken, and I must now stand upon my own legs. 1697Collier Immor. Stage (1730) Pref., Throwing in a Word or two; to..keep the English upon its Legs. 1760–72H. Brooke Fool of Qual. (1809) III. 117, I engage in a few weeks to set you once more upon your legs. 1771Smollett Humph. Cl. 17 Apr., I..might have been upon my legs by this time, had the weather permitted me to use my saddle-horse. 1792Anecd. W. Pitt. (1797) I. xii. 249 Mr. Pitt, upon his legs, in the House of Commons, charged [etc.]. 1799Med. Jrnl. I. 22 He was obliged to be on his legs the whole day. 1801G. Rose Diaries (1860) I. 321 We found Mr. Sheridan on his legs, moving the adjournment. 1818Cobbett Pol. Reg. XXXIII. 9 A thing totally destitute of talent could never expect long to stand upon its own legs. 1825J. Neal Bro. Jonathan I. 8 As if the Yankee man were determined to leave the..brigadier without a leg to stand upon, as a lawyer would say. 1841Lytton Nt. & Morn. ii. iii. II. 121 A man who has plenty of brains generally falls on his legs. 1856Dickens Dorrit (1857) ii. viii. 393 He had better confess, for he had not a leg to stand on. 1884Sat. Rev. 7 June 731/1 That English credit is not good enough to set Egypt..on her legs again. 1889Mivart Truth 131 The latter hypothesis..has not a leg to stand on. 1897Daily News 15 Oct. 7/4 Mr. S. was on his hind legs arguing with..force. 1897W. E. Norris Marietta's Marr. xxx. 217 ‘Don't get on your hind legs’, returned Betty composedly. 1910H. Belloc Pongo xix. 289 The Pongo was to get on to his very short hind legs and talk of the gravity of the situation and all his party was to listen in awed silence. 1925V. Woolf Mrs. Dalloway 114 Solemnly Richard Dalloway got on his hind legs and said that no decent man ought to read Shakespeare's sonnets. 1944E. S. Gardner Case of Black-Eyed Blond (1948) xvi. 158 Mildred had gone to a lawyer, and the lawyer had advised her that she didn't have a legal leg to stand on. 1960M. Spark Bachelors ii. 21 She hasn't a leg to stand on in the case. He's divorcing her, she's not divorcing him. 1964J. Masters Trial at Monomoy i. 26 That's why I'm on my hind legs now, asking you folks to keep calm. 1973J. Wainwright Pride of Pigs 179 You haven't a leg to stand on... You don't even out-rank me.
d. one's last legs, the end of one's life; fig. the end of one's resources; said also of things; chiefly on or upon one's last legs.
1599Massinger, etc. Old Law v. i, Eugenia. My Husband goes upon his last hour now. 1st Courtier. On his last legs, I am sure. 1668Dryden Evening's Love ii. i. Wks. 1883 III. 287 He had brought me to my last legs. 1764Foote Mayor of G. ii. Wks. 1799 I. 184 You was pretty near your last legs. 1846De Quincey Syst. Heavens Wks. (1854) III. 174 If the Earth were on her last legs. 1857A. Trollope Barchester T. i, The bishop was quite on his last legs; but the ministry also were tottering.
e. to dance (run walk, etc.) a person off his legs: to cause (him) to dance, etc. to exhaustion.
1663Butler Hud. i. iii. 326 Purging Comfits and Ants Eggs, Had almost brought him off his legs. 1668Pepys Diary 25 Nov., These people..will run themselves off of their legs. 1736Ainsworth Lat. Dict. 11 s.v. Hag, I am hagged off my legs. 1890‘Rolf Boldrewood’ Col. Reformer (1891) 159 Girls, who will dance him off his legs, unless he's very fit indeed. 1894Fenn In Alpine Valley I. 205 Soon walk him off his legs.
f. Put for ‘the power of using the legs’, as in to feel one's legs (feel v. 6 d), find one's legs. to keep one's legs, to remain standing or walking. sea-legs: see sea.
1593Shakes. 2 Hen. VI, ii. i. 147 We must haue you finde your Legges. Sirrha Beadle, whippe him till he leape ouer that same Stoole. 1706[E. Ward] Wooden World Diss. (1708) 5 They..walk firm, where all other Creatures tumble; and seldom can keep their Legs long, when they get upon Terra firma. 1855Macaulay Hist. Eng. xii. III. 233 The fighting men..were so much exhausted that they could scarcely keep their legs. 1858Mrs. Carlyle Lett. II. 345 Carried most of the way, not able to keep his legs.
g. in high leg: in high spirits, exalted.
1808Syd. Smith Let. to Lady Holland 8 Oct. Mem. (1855) II. 38 The Mufti in high leg about the Spaniards.
3. a. The leg cut from the carcass of an animal or bird for use as food.
1533Elyot Cast. Helthe ii. i. (1541) 16 b, Biefe is better digested than a chykens legge. 1599H. Buttes Dyets drie Dinner A a, A breast or legge of Mutton. a1625Beaum. & Fl. Bonduca ii. iii, What say you to a leg of Beef now, sirha? 1722De Foe Col. Jack (1840) 118 Then came up a leg of mutton. 1875A. Wood Havard's Dead Cities Zuyder Zee 75 The butcheress..still had a leg of veal.
b. leg-of-mutton adj. phr., resembling a leg of mutton, esp. in shape. leg-of-mutton sail, a kind of triangular sail (also called shoulder-of-mutton sail); so leg-of-mutton rig. leg-of-mutton sleeve, one very full and loose on the arm but close-fitting at the wrist; a gigot-sleeve.
1840P. Parley's Ann. I. 218 Mrs. Button had dressed herself in leg-of-mutton sleeves [etc.]. 1883Harper's Mag. Dec. 146/1, I had rigged her with a leg-of-mutton sail. 1884Girl's Own Mag. 29 Mar. 410/1 The old-fashinoned ‘gigot’, or leg-of-mutton sleeve. 1885F. Gordon Pyotshaw 26 He brandished his leg-of-mutton fist. 1894Outing (U.S.) May 148/1 The leg-of-mutton rig..is the simplest.
4. An obeisance made by drawing back one leg and bending the other; a bow, scrape. Also in phrase to make (rarely cast away, scrape) a leg. Now arch. or jocular.
1589Tri. Love & Fortune v. (Roxb. Club) 141 Hang rascall, make a leg to me. 1596Nashe Saffron Walden (Grosart) III. 146 Whither..haue you brought mee? To Newgate, good Master Doctour, with a lowe leg they made answer. 1599Hakluyt Voy. II. i. 152, I turned me to the Basha, and made a long legge, saying, Grand mercie Signior. 16022nd Pt. Return fr. Parnass. iii. ii. 1212 His hungry sire will scrape you twenty legges, For one good Christmas meale. 1606Sir G. Goosecappe iv. i. in Bullen O. Pl. III. 64 To shew my Courtship In the three quarter legge, and setled looke. 1609Dekker Gvlls Horne-bk. 64 A Jew never bends in the hams with casting away a leg. 1629P. Smart Holy Commun. Durham Cath. 14 To teach the Coristers going up to the Altar to make legs to God. a1654Selden Table-T. (Arb.) 85 'Tis good to learn to dance, a man may learn his Leg, learn to go handsomly. 1725De Foe Voy. round World (1840) 97 The governor..gave them the compliment of his hat and leg. 1839Longfellow Hyperion i. vii, He is one that cannot make a good leg. 1857Trollope Barchester T. xxiii, Each made a leg in the approved rural fashion.
fig.1858Sat. Rev. 31 July 98 The India Bill came simpering on..and made its little leg to an applauding public.
5. slang. Short for blackleg 2.
1815Sporting Mag. XLV. 39 The Goose that laid the Golden Egg should be a lesson to the legs on the turf. 1837Dickens Pickw. xlii, He was a horse chaunter: he's a leg now. 1884H. Smart From Post to Finish xxiii. 172 The world regards me as a compound of leg and money-lender.
6. Cricket.
a. leg before wicket: the act of stopping with the leg, or other part of the person, a straight-pitched ball, which would otherwise have hit the wicket (a fault in play for which the batsman may be given ‘out’). Also, simply, leg before. Abbreviated l.b.w.
[1774Laws Cricket in Lillywhite Cricket Scores (1862) I. 17 Or if a striker puts his leg before the wicket with a design to stop the ball, and actually prevent the ball from hitting his wicket by it [he is out]. ] [1795: cf. l.b.w. s.v. L (the letter) 7.] 1850‘Bat’ Cricket Man. 47 The hitter is given out as..‘leg before wicket’. 1862Lillywhite Cricket Scores I. 191 In this match [in 1795], ‘leg before wicket’ is found scored for the first time. 1882Daily Tel. 20 May, Blackham was out leg before to Lillywhite.
b. (Also the leg.) (a) That part of the ‘on’ side of the field which lies behind, or about in a line with, the batsman. Chiefly in (a hit) to (the) leg. (b) The side of the pitch on which the batsman stands.
(a)1843‘A Wykhamist’ Pract. Hints Cricket Frontisp., The ‘long on’..is for the most part done away with, and placed either..between the slip and cover-point, or to the ‘leg’. Ibid. 17 The hitting to the leg is by far the most effective. 1857Hughes Tom Brown ii. viii, A beautifully pitched ball for the outer stump, which the..unfeeling Jack..hits right round to leg for five. 1866Le Fanu All in Dark I. viii. 66 William, whose hit to leg was famous.
attrib.1882Daily Tel. 24 June, The South Australian got his first ball to the leg boundary.
(b)1843‘A Wykhamist’ Pract, Hints Cricket 17 As soon as ever the ball is pitched to the leg. 1851Pycroft Cricket Field ix. 181 So a cricket ball, with lateral spin, will work from Leg to Off, or Off to Leg, according to the spin. 1859All Year Round No. 13. 306 The first ball they bowled me was slow, overpitched, and to leg. 1888Cricket (Badm Libr.) vii. 282 Farmer Miles..bowled under-arm..his balls curling in from the leg.
c. Hence, the position of a fieldsman placed to stop balls hit ‘to leg’ (see above); also, the fieldsman so placed. long, short, square leg, the fieldsman, or his position, at a long or short distance from the wicket or about square with it.
1816in Box Eng. Game Cricket (1877) 34 Leg, the person who takes this place should stand a little back from the straight line of the popping crease. 1850‘Bat’ Cricket Man. 44 Long Leg must be occupied by a good thrower. 1857Chambers' Inform. II. 688/2 Leg should stand rather behind the striker, in a diagonal line, about twelve or sixteen yards from the wicket. 1877Box Eng. Game Cricket Gloss., Short Leg, the fielder stationed within a few yards of the wicket behind the batsman. Square Leg, this fielder stands nearly square with the batsman. 1880Times 28 Sept. 11/5 The men were placed thus:—Mr. Jarvis, wicket-keeper;..Bannerman, leg [etc.]. 1894Ibid. 23 May 7/3 He was taken at short-leg.
II. Something more or less resembling a leg, or performing its function as a support for a ‘body’.
7. a. A representation or figure of a leg; esp. in Her.
c1500Sc. Poem Heraldry in Q. Eliz. Acad. 100 Thire be also raschit, as lege or heid. 1725Coats New Dict. Her., Legs are born in Coat-Armour, either naked, or shod, or booted. 1797Encycl. Brit. (ed. 3) VIII. 457/2 ‘Gules, three Legs armed proper, conjoined in the Fess-point’... This is the coat of arms of the Isle of Man... ‘Or, three Legs couped above the knee Sable’; borne by the name of Hosy.
†b. Sc. Short for leg-dollar. Obs.
1687[see leg-dollar in 17].
8. An artificial leg. Also cork leg, wooden leg: see the adjs.
1426Lydg. De Guil. Pilgr. 23199, I made me a leg of tre.
9. (See quot.)
1727Boyer Eng.-Fr. Dict. s.v. Leg, A Leg of Wood to put in a Stocking, forme, pour enformer les Bas.
10. That part of a garment which covers the leg.
1580Stanford Churchw. Acc. in Antiquary XVII. 171/2 It. for a payre of boote Leggs to mende bawdrycks, viijd. 1861Dickens Gt. Expect. ii, To put my hunk of bread-and-butter down the leg of my trousers.
11. a. A bar, pole, or the like used as a support or prop; esp. in Shipbuilding and Mining.
1497Naval Acc. Hen. VII (1896) 324 Carpenters whuch made the seid ledders and legges of tymbre. 1699W. Dampier Voy. II. i. 73 One end of the Carriage is supported with two Legs, or a Fork of three Foot high. 1712J. James tr. Le Blond's Gardening 81 'Tis set upon the Ground by means of three Legs or Staves..put into as many Sockets below the Ball... The lesser sort..require but one Leg. 1883Gresley Gloss. Coal-mining, Leg. 1. S[cotland]. A wooden prop supporting one end of a bar. 2. Y[orkshire]. A stone which has to be wedged out from beneath a larger one. 1886R. C. Leslie Sea-painter's Log iv 68 The yacht is likely to fall over, and, breaking her leg under her, receive serious damage.
b. One of the poles or masts of a sheers.
1896Law Times Rep. LXXIII. 634/2 The engine then brought the other waggon under the shear legs to have it unloaded. 1898Daily News 30 June 4/5 A pair of steel legs eighty-seven feet in height, which had a lifting power of 75 tons.
12. One of the comparatively long and slender supports of a piece of furniture or the like.
1680Moxon Mech. Exerc. 177 The Legs and Cheeks are to be fastned with Braces to the Floor..of the Room the Lathe stands in. 1784Cowper Task i. 19 Joint-stools were then created; on three legs Upborne they stood. 1837Dickens Pickw. xliv, I was always used to a four-poster afore I came here, and I find the legs of the table answer just as well. Ibid. xlvii, Mr. Pickwick grated the legs of his chair against the ground. 1852Mrs. Carlyle Lett. II. 175 Tables with their legs in the air.
13. A beam upon which tanners dress skins.
1727–41Chambers Cycl. s.v. Shammy, They [skins] are..laid on a wooden leg or horse.
14. a. One of the branches of a forked, jointed, or curved object.
1683Moxon Mech. Exerc., Printing xiii. ⁋4 The Legs of a Carpenter's Joynt-Rule. 1726tr. Gregory's Astron. I. 490 Imagine a Canal fill'd with a Fluid, and bent,..the Fluid in the Leg of the Canal AC is in equilibrio with the Fluid in the Leg PC. 1727–41Chambers Cycl., Compasses of three legs. 1801Jefferson Writ. (ed. Ford) VII. 482 A rainbow, therefore,..plunges one of it's legs down to the river. 1828J. H. Moore Pract. Navig. (ed. 20) 18 The Sector. This instrument consists of two legs or rulers, representing the radii of a circle. 1866Croquet 10 A ball is Wired when it cannot effect the stroke desired on account of the leg of a hoop (wire) intervening. 1893Sloane Electr. Dict., Leg of circuit, one lead or side of a complete metallic circuit.
b. One of the sides of a triangle, viewed as standing upon a base (so Gr. σκέλος); one of the two parts on each side of the vertex of a curve. hyperbolic, parabolic leg (see quot. 1727–41).
1659Moxon Globes vi. i. (1674) 184 The Legs of a Right Angled Spherical Triangle. 1702Ralphson Math. Dict., Isosceles Triangle is a Triangle that has two equal Legs. 1727–41Chambers Cycl. s.v. Curve, Lastly, the legs of curves..are either of the parabolic or hyperbolic kind: an hyperbolic leg, being that which approaches infinitely towards some asymptote; a parabolic, that which has no asymptote.
c. Gold-mining. One of the two nearly vertical lateral prolongations of the saddle of a quartz-reef.
1890Melbourne Argus 16 June 6/1 In payable saddle formations a slide intersects the reef above the saddle coming from the west, and turning east with a wall of the east leg, where the leg of reef is observed to go down deeper.
d. Lace-making. A strand of the network which connects the patterns in lace. Usu. pl.
1865F. B. Palliser Hist. Lace xxii. 263 Early guipure of Venice or darned network, in which the raised flowers were strung together by legs or brides. 1900E. Jackson Hist. Handmade Lace 214 Legs,..the connecting threads thrown across spaces in needlepoint and bobbin laces. 1922Mrs. R. E. Head Lace & Embroidery Collector 232 Brides. Fr. Syns.: bars, legs (Eng.).
e. U.S. Broadcasting. A branch or supplementary network attached to the main network and providing coverage for a particular region (see also quot. 1937).
1937Printers' Ink Monthly May 39/1 Leg, a regional chain, i.e., one link of stations in a network. 1951E. E. Willis Foundations in Broadcasting iii. 47 Supplementary stations are added to the basic network in order to expand the coverage of a particular program. Often these supplementary stations are organised into groups or legs, which provide coverage of an entire section. The networks all have West Coast legs, for example. 1966McGraw-Hill Encycl. Sci. & Technol. XI. 252/2 An appended supplementary network circuit, feeding more than one station from an intermediate point along a reversible or a round-robin system, is called the leg of a network. Network legs are usually..one-way circuits from the AT&T office to the leg office and the stations they feed.
15. Naut.
a. A name applied to various short ropes (see quot. 1794). leg along (see quot. 1867).
1627Capt. Smith Seaman's Gram. v. 24 Legs are small ropes put thorow the bolt ropes of the maine and fore saile, neere to a foot in length, spliced each end into the other in the leech of the saile, hauing a little eye whereunto the martnets are fastened by two hitches. 1711W. Sutherland Shipbuild. Assist. 143 Cat-harping Legs. 1794Rigging & Seamanship I. 169 Legs, short ropes which branch out into two or more parts, as the bowline-legs or bridles, buntline-legs, crowfoot-legs, &c. 1860Merc. Marine Mag. VII. 113 The two meet and fall to deck in one leg. 1867Smyth Sailor's Word-bk., Leg along, ropes laid on end, ready for manning.
b. A run made on a single tack. Chiefly in long, short leg, a good leg, ‘a course sailed on a tack which is near the desired course’ (Webster, 1897).
1867in Smyth Sailor's Word-bk. 1892H. Hutchinson Fairway Island 20 I'll fetch down on a long leg, and catch the ‘Pengelley’ on a single tack. 1895Daily News 8 July 8/6 Valkyrie..preferred a series of short legs off Wemyss Bay to weather the Skelmorlie.
c. A part of, or stage in, a journey, race, competition, etc.
1920Blackw. Mag. Feb. 166/1 On each new ‘leg’ of our zigzags, our eyes were straining over ever-new horizons. 1927Nat. Geogr. Mag. Aug. 185/2 (heading) First non-stop leg of the journey was 1,400 miles. 1938W. L. Hughes Bk. Major Sports xxx. 345 Each man on a relay team is said to run one leg of the race. 1953R. Chisholm Cover of Darkness xiv. 151 We began a square search, flying five-minute legs. 1955N.Y. Times 23 Jan. 3/6 Wiggins swam his leg of the relay in 56 seconds flat. 1958Times 8 Sept. 6/3 Where an alien's visit to Britain was split into two parts by a trip to another country, each ‘leg’ of the United Kingdom visit had, by law, to be dealt with separately by the immigration authorities. 1972Nature 31 Mar. 196/2 The first leg of this route traverses Arctic tundra regions of Alaska and Canada's Northwest Territories. 1973C. Bonington Next Horizon xiii. 196 We squeezed out of the snow cave for the last leg down to Scheidegg.
III. 16. attrib. and Comb. Simple attrib., as leg bath; objective and obj. gen., as leg-maker, leg-tripping; locative, as leg tired, leg-weary adjs. (so leg-weariness); also leg-like adj.
1869R. T. Claridge Cold Water-cure 56 *Leg Bath. The thighs and legs..ought to be put into a bath.
189719th Cent. Aug. 297 Others unmistakably *leglike.
14..Nom. in Wr.-Wülcker 686/29 Hic tibiarius, *legmaker.
1737Bracken Farriery Impr. (1757) II. 149 If he..change his Feet, it denotes he is *Leg-tired.
1871B. Taylor Faust (1875) II. iii. 211 He overcame In *leg-tripping.
1880W. Day Racehorse xix. 183 Horses often pull up lame from *leg-weariness.
1755J. Shebbeare Lydia (1769) I. 243 The exciseman began to be *leg-weary. 1890‘Rolf Boldrewood’ Col. Reformer (1891) 319 The slow, hopeless, leg-weary jog.
17. a. Special combinations: leg art slang (orig. U.S.) = cheese-cake 2; leg-bird, a dial. name for the Sedge Warbler; leg-bone, the shin-bone, tibia; leg-boot, a boot for a horse, covering the leg between the knee and hoof; leg-business slang, ballet-dancing; leg-dollar (see quot. 1687); leg drive, in rowing, drive imparted by movement of the rower's legs; leg-foot, the foot of a post or the like; leg-guard, a protection for the leg; in Cricket, a covering for the knee, shin and ankle, worn by the batsmen and wicket-keeper as a protection against injury from the ball; leg-ill, a disease of sheep, causing lameness; leg-iron, a shackle or fetter for the leg (whence leg-ironed adj.); leg-lock = prec.; leg man, woman orig. U.S., an assistant who does leg work, spec. a journalist who goes from place to place gathering information; † leg money (see quot.); leg-muff, ‘one of the fleecy or downy puffs or tufts about the feet of many humming-birds’ (Cent. Dict.); leg-pad Cricket = leg-guard; † leg payment (see quot. and cf. leg-bail); leg piece, † (a) in pl., greaves; (b) Theatrical slang (= F. pièce aux jambes), a play in which ‘leg-business’ is prominent; leg-pull [f. the phr. to pull one's leg: see leg n. 2 a], the act of deceiving a person in a playful way, a humorous deception (so leg-puller, leg-pulling ns.); leg-rest, a contrivance for supporting the leg of an invalid when seated; leg-ring, an aluminium strip wrapped round a bird's leg to mark it; hence leg-ringing vbl. n.; leg-room, space for the legs, spec. in a car; leg-rope v. (Austral. and N.Z.), to catch an animal by the leg with a noosed rope; n. (Austral. and N.Z.), a noosed rope for securing an animal by one hind leg; also leg-roping vbl. n.; † leg-saw (meaning obscure); legs eleven, a jocular catch-phrase in the game of bingo (or housey-housey), etc., for ‘eleven’; also ellipt. as legs; leg-shield, a shield to protect the leg from being crushed against the barrier in justing; leg shop colloq., a theatre in which ‘leg-shows’ are produced (Obs.); leg-show colloq. (orig. U.S.), a theatrical production in which dancing girls display their legs; leg-splint, a plate of armour to protect the leg; leg-stretcher, (a) a walker; (b) a walk (see to stretch one's legs s.v. stretch v. 3 c); leg warmer, either of a pair of tubular (usu. knitted) garments covering the leg from ankle to thigh, orig. worn by ballet dancers at rehearsal, and subsequently by (young) women, often as a fashion accessory; usu. in pl.; leg woman (see leg man above); leg-wood dial., large branches cut from trees (also attrib.); leg work, work which involves running errands, going from place to place in search of information, etc.; leg-worm, the Guinea worm (q.v.) which attacks the legs. Also leg-harness.
1940Amer. Speech XV. 359/1 *Leg art, exploitation of sex appeal in pictures. 1958Spectator 10 Oct. 481/1 The Cameo Royal, the leg-art cinema by London's Leicester Square.
1848Zoologist VI. 2290 The sedge warbler, a ‘*leg bird’. 1885in Swainson Prov. Names Birds.
1615Crooke Body of Man 1003 The whirle and the *Leg-bone are ioyned by adarticulation.
1871A. Edwardes Ought we to visit her? III. i. 11 She was..in the ‘*Leg Business’, your Grace.
1670Proclam. in Cochran-Patrick Coinage Scot. (1876) II. 158 These dollors commonly called *leg dollors. 1687A. Haig in J. Russell Haigs xi. (1881) 331 To Daick,..a rex-dollar and halfe a legg, which is {pstlg}04 . 06 . 0. [Note, A rix-dollar was worth {pstlg}2 18s. Scots, or 4s. 10d. sterling; a leg-dollar {pstlg}2 16s., or 4s. 8d. sterling. The latter coin was so-called from having on it the impression of a man in armour with one leg, the other being covered by a shield containing a coat of arms.] Ibid. 332 A legg-dollar for parchment and drink-money.
1928Observer 1 July 30/3 They are lacking in *leg-drive, and their boat does not run evenly between the strokes. 1968Encycl. Brit. XIX. 668/2 Fairbairn..emphasized leg drive and arm pull and considered smooth bladework more important than what he called the ‘showy style’ of body work.
1893Stevenson Catriona iii. 29 Old daft limmers sit at a *leg-foot [of a gibbet] and spae their fortunes.
1844Bell's Life 12 May 1/3 (Advt.), Robert Dark, the Inventor and sole Manufacturer of..the improved *leg guards, begs respectfully to inform the lovers of the Game of Cricket that they can be supplied at the shortest notice. 1849‘Bat’ Cricket Man. Advt., Gauntlets, Leg Guards [etc.]. 1890[see face-screen (face n. 26)]. 1952C. Day Lewis tr. Virgil's Aeneid vii. 160 Working polished leg-guards from malleable silver.
1807Ess. Highl. Soc. III. 431 *Leg ill.
1861Dickens Gt. Expect. xvi, A convict's *leg-iron which had been filed asunder.
1884E. Yates Recoll. I. iii. 115 Convicts..handcuffed and *leg-ironed.
1860[Mrs. W. P. Byrne] Undercurrents Overlooked II. 218 Manacles and chains, whips and *leg-locks.
1923Nation (N.Y.) 24 Oct. 454/2 Newsboys and ‘*legmen’ and a foreign news service keep the streets of Mecca aware of all that goes on. 1951E. Paul Springtime in Paris xi. 195 The Paris police, leg men and cameramen from the Paris newspapers began tailing Nordmann and Tixier-Vignancour day and night. 1960Woman's Own 5 Mar. 9/1 Jeannie supposed he'd have to get another secretary. He had two already, one more or less a leg-man, another who came in by the day. 1967Economist 1 July 26/1 He was Mr Macmillan's leg man during the break-up of the Central African Federation.
1812Examiner 7 Sept. 575/1 If not able to pay *leg money, or a fee for knocking off the irons [at Newgate].
1850‘Bat’ Cricket Man. 51 *Leg-pads.
1611Cotgr., Payer en gambades, to make *leg-paiments, to runne away in debt.
1676Hobbes Iliad (1677) 151 His *leg-pieces he down to th' anckles ti'd, With silver buckles leg-pieces of brass. 1918G. B. Shaw Let. Sept. in W. Loraine Robert Loraine (1938) xiii. 247 So long as you have a mouth left and one lung to keep it going, you will still be better than the next best: my pieces are not leg pieces. 1923J. Manchon Le Slang 179 Leg⁓piece,..ballet.
1915Truth Nov. 848/1 What you describe as a swindle was only a brain-wave of mine ending in a *leg-pull. 1938Times Lit. Suppl. 12 Feb. 112/3 In point of fact they appear to have been no more than a not very subtle leg-pull. 1950T. S. Eliot Cocktail Party iii. 148 You always did enjoy a leg-pull, Julia. 1965M. Spark Mandelbaum Gate iv. 106 Sometimes, Abdul, I wonder if you're just treating me to a big leg-pull. 1970J. Ardagh New France xi. 549 His whole operation might be partly a leg-pull at the expense of serious literature.
1923Motor Cycling 7 Nov. 2/1 You are a confirmed *leg-puller. Just fancy kidding me about the speed of the bus I bought from you. 1969Mind LXXVIII. 31 Most samples are fair samples (God is not a leg-puller).
1908Westm. Gaz. 30 June 2/1, I, too, have lived in Australia, where *leg-pulling is one of the chief joys of life. 1926T. E. Lawrence Seven Pillars ix. civ. 553, I could hardly tell my own self where the leg-pulling began or ended. 1946R.A.F. Jrnl. May 178 ‘Liz’ and ‘Sally’..will take any amount of leg pulling—and give it. 1963Times 30 May 17/2 Mr. Rovere is patently civilized, thoughtful and well-informed in his leg-pulling.
1833J. C. Loudon Encycl. Archit. iii. vi. 1050 A *Leg Rest..is sometimes used in dining-rooms by old gentlemen after the ladies are gone. 1854Mrs. Gaskell North & S. (1855) II. v. 68 He was busy..contriving a leg-rest for Dixon, who was beginning to feel the fatigues of watching. 1860Geo. Eliot Mill on Fl. III. 8 Tom advanced before him, carrying the leg-rest. 1970Stoke Mandeville Dict. Managem. Paraplegic Patients 23 Leg-Rest, attachment to wheelchairs used to keep a paralysed leg elevated. 1973Green Shield Stamps Catal. No. 12. 133 (caption) Garden Chair with Leg Rest. Adjustable to 8 positions.
[1909A. L. Thomson in Brit. Birds II. 362 Various investigators..are endeavouring to obtain fuller and more accurate data with regard to migration, by liberating birds marked with metal foot-rings.] 1938Brit. Birds XXXI. 242 Each bird was marked with a light, numbered, metal *leg-ring of the British Birds Marking Scheme. 1959New Biol. XXIX. 111 Leg-rings in different colours have been distributed to a large number of I.G.Y. bases in the hope that some of the mysteries associated with this bird's [sc. the Antarctic skua's] activities can be solved.
1963Times 5 June 14/4 During the time he has been in Cyprus, Mr. Nicholson has helped in many major ornithological achievements, notably in the hazardous but successful *leg-ringing of young Eleanora's falcons.
1928Punch 18 Apr. p. xxii (Advt.), Carries four full-sized people. Ample *leg-room... A wonderful performer for such a small horse-powered car. 1958Times 19 Aug. 11/6 They [sc. Ford designers] succeeded in giving the passengers sufficient legroom. 1972Drive Spring 147/3 The height, legroom and squab level of the driver's seat can be adjusted.
1878E. S. Elwell Boy Colonists 235 She kicked out at Ernest, who was trying to get the *leg-rope on. 1889‘Rolf Boldrewood’ Robbery under Arms (1890) 7 We could milk, leg-rope, and bail up for ourselves. 1911H. Foston In Bell Bird's Lair 36 Each cow was to be carefully ‘leg-roped’. Ibid., Ted was shown how to ‘leg-rope’ a cow and bail up. 1950N.Z. Jrnl. Agric. Feb. 169/2 Milk stools, door handles, leg ropes, posts and walls must be kept clean. Ibid. Nov. 465/3 The tail of the cow should be prevented from waving about and, if necessary, the animal comfortably leg-roped. 1963Landfall Mar. 13, I..let the cow out into the race where, taking the leg-rope with her, she squittered off wild in the eyes.
1912B. E. Baughan in D. M. Davin N.Z. Short Stories (1953) 189 Much to my surprise, there was no *leg-roping, and hardly any bailing-up [of the cows being milked].
1662Stat. Irel. (1765) II. 464 *Leg-saws the piece 6s. 8d.
1919W. H. Downing Digger Dial. 32 *Legs eleven,..the number eleven in the game of ‘house’. 1933L. A. G. Strong Sea Wall 256 A game of ‘house’ was in progress and a voice monotonously droned the numbers: ‘..legs... Kelly's eye.’ 1945E. Waugh Brideshead Revisited ii. i. 230 Kelly's eye—number one; legs, eleven; and we'll Shake the Bag. 1965Brophy & Partridge Long Trail 144 Legs eleven,..in the game of House, eleven.
1860Hewitt Anc. Arm. III. 390 The *leg-shield of the saddle is found in woodcut No. 49.
1871‘Mark Twain’ Screamers xxviii. 144 They're playing ‘Undine’ at the Opery House, and some folks call it the *leg shop.
1882J. J. Jennings Theatr. & Circus Life 238 Burlesque with its blonde attributes kept the country in a rage..and the minor musical attractions of the quasi legitimate stage have usurped its principal feature—the *leg show. 1900Amer. Jrnl. Sociol. VI. 447 Next follows a cinematograph reproduction of a prize-fight, and then, in striking contrast with the first, a ‘leg show’ of the most shameless character. 1930Brophy & Partridge Songs & Slang 1914–18 137 At a leg-show of these days you saw far less of the female form than is now exhibited in the streets. 1930J. Dos Passos 42nd Parallel v. 420 Doc wanted to go to see a legshow. 1952‘J. Guthrie’ Paradise Bay vi. 57 He took me to exciting spectacles which I now know were leg shows. 1969Listener 20 Mar. 399/1 We often use the cliché of the tired business-man to define the low response..that sustains leg-shows.
1828–40Tytler Hist. Scot. (1864) II. 78 Breastplate, greaves, and *leg-splints.
1616T. Coryat Traveller for English Wits 42 Your..most obliged Countreyman..the..*Legge-stretcher of Odcomb in Somerset, Thomas Coryate. 1942‘M. Home’ House of Shade iii. 57 Marigny was suggesting a leg-stretcher... The two made their way out to the glare of the sun. 1970Daily Tel. 23 May 9 Now lonely, neglected, and often overgrown, they provide delightful leg-stretchers, on the springy turf, for the motorist with an hour or so to spare.
1974Dance Mag. June 80/1 (Advt.), At last a fashion-wise..line of garments that can be worn for dance, sports..or street wear... *Leg Warmers..Midriff Top..Swing Skirt. 1975New Yorker 26 May 30/3 Mr. Grigorovich was sitting on a bench at the front of the room watching fifty-odd perspiring dancers, in leotards and leg warmers, moving through the complicated patterns of a lilting Tchaikovsky waltz. 1976Times 30 Mar. 10 Leg-warmers, accessory of every freezing dance rehearsal room, emerged as a stylish cover-up for girls. 1984S. Townsend Growing Pains A. Mole 146 No Selina this morning, so I had to make do with going into town with Pandora, who wanted to buy a pair of neon pink legwarmers.
1960M. G. Eberhart Jury of One (1961) i. 9 An old school friend, a fashion writer, had needed an assistant, a *leg woman.
1872T. Hardy Under Greenw. Tree I. iii. (1876) 22 We shall have a rare *leg-wood fire directly. 1898Oxford Chron. 22 Jan. 1 A large number of Faggots and Legwood.
1891Dialect Notes I. 207 Reporters characterize a task in which there is more running than writing by the expression *leg-work. 1942E. Paul Narrow St. xxxi. 285 The Greek madonna did the leg work faithfully while La Absalom cackled orders through a rift in the portières. 1959G. Cobden Murder for his Money iv. 51 He wouldn't come himself for Patey was no man of action, but he might send..a man we used a great deal for leg work. 1972Daily Tel. 21 June 13/8, 1,700 men..do the surveying leg⁓work needed for keeping local maps up to date. 1973L. Heren Growing up Poor in London vii. 179, I would earn a few bob working on the edge of big stories... The reporters who came down from Fleet Street were nearly always willing to pay for leg work.
1699W. Dampier Voy. II. ii. 79 Two hairy Worms growing in the Authors Leg. Dangerous *Leg-worms in the West Indies. 1857tr. Küchenmeister's Man. Parasites Hum. Body I. 398 Amongst the Germans it is known as..the skin-worm,..leg-worm,..and Pharaoh's worm.
b. in Cricket: leg bail, stump, that nearest the batsman; leg ball, break, a ball which pitches on or breaks from the leg side; hence leg-breaker, a leg-break bowler; leg-bye (see bye n. 1); leg-cutter (see quot. 1966); leg glance, glide, a shot in which the ball is glanced fine on the leg side; leg hit, stroke, a hit to leg (hence leg-hitter, leg-hitting ns.); leg play (see quot. 1934); leg side = leg n. 6 b; leg slip, (a fielder in) a position corresponding to that of the slips (see slip n.3 14 a), but on the leg side; leg spin, a type of spin which causes the ball to turn from leg side to off (so leg-spinner); leg sweep, a sweeping stroke which sends the ball to leg; leg theory, the technique of bowling to leg with a concentration of fielders on the leg side; leg trap, fielders stationed for catches close to the wicket on the leg side.
1882Daily Tel. 27 May, The new-comer..immediately afterwards had his *leg-bail removed.
1830Miss Mitford Village Ser. iv. 29 He missed a *leg ball of Ned Smith's.
1888A. G. Steel in Steel & Lyttelton Cricket iii. 114 The ‘*leg break’ ball is usually bowled from round the wicket. 1927W. E. Collinson Contemp. English 19 Only gradually did the mysteries of yorkers, full tosses and leg⁓breaks penetrate to us. 1955Times 9 May 15/1 Mansell..bowled 17 steady overs of leg-breaks. 1969M. Parkinson Cricket Mad x. 57 We had our suspicions confirmed in the Indian's first over which contained five leg breaks.
1905Strand Mag. June 703/2 Armstrong is a *leg-breaker. 1956R. Alston Test Commentary i. 13 Benaud, potentially a most dangerous leg-breaker.
1956N. Cardus Close of Play 37 What is action break? In what way is it a term with a meaning more demonstrable..than ‘seamer’ and ‘*leg-cutter’? 1963Times 25 Apr. 4/5 He went to Lord's last year to play his first match for Warwickshire and within a couple of overs had bowled everything from a leg-cutter to an inswinger. 1966B. Johnston Armchair Cricket 102 Leg-cutter, is really a fast leg-break which is bowled by ‘cutting’ across the seam of the ball.
1883Cricket 19 Apr. 39/1 Horan came in after lunch, and soon commenced to score in his own peculiar style, *leg glances being his favourite stroke. 1966B. Close Close on Cricket iii. 35 Leg glance, this is a refined stroke played against a ball pitched on or outside the leg stump but not far enough up to drive efficiently.
1920D. J. Knight in P. F. Warner Cricket 33 The first of the leg strokes, the *leg glide, is a glorious one to watch, and is exceedingly paying. 1955Times 12 July 12/4 Just before luncheon he had lost Brookes, who, after a beautiful leg glide, missed one from Smith to be out leg before.
1836in ‘Bat’ Cricket Man. (1850) 100 Pilch..wrote down three with a *leg hit.
1843‘A Wykhamist’ Pract. Hints Cricket 17 He will soon become an effective *leg-hitter.
Ibid., On *leg-hitting.
1888R. H. Lyttelton in Steel & Lyttelton Cricket xvi. 411 It is the bowlers who have most cause to grumble at the modern *leg play. 1898K. S. Ranjitsinhji With Stoddart's Team (ed. 4) v. 96 His [sc. S. P. Jones's] cutting and his leg play being particularly well-timed. 1928Daily Express 28 June 3/4 If leg⁓play were more severely penalised and wickets less like polished concrete, the balance between bat and ball would be more redressed and the game restored to its former attractiveness. 1934W. J. Lewis Lang. Cricket 147 Leg play, 1. Stopping a breaking or curling ball with the leg instead of with the bat... 2. The playing of balls on the leg side.
1816W. Lambert Cricketer's Guide (ed. 6) ii. 32 If the Ball should come 4 or 5 inches on the *leg side, the Striker should move his right foot back at the moment of hitting, playing the Ball between his left leg and the wicket. 1956N. Cardus Close of Play 26 No opposing captain dreamed of setting a close leg-side field for him. 1969P. Pocock Bowling i. 19 The majority of seam bowlers swung the ball away from the batsman, using six fielders on the offside and three on the leg side.
1956R. Alston Test Commentary xvi. 143 Miller swept him through the hastily retreating *leg-slips. 1963A. Ross Australia 63 vii. 134 Benaud gave Davidson his most aggressive field for some time; neither long leg nor third man, three slips, gully, leg slip and backward short leg.
1888A. G. Steel in Steel & Lyttelton Cricket iii. 116 The ball, coming from a great distance round the wicket and with a considerable amount of *leg spin, would be gradually working away to the batsman's off side. 1966B. Close Close on Cricket v. 55 We have a quantity of good finger-spin bowlers but few leg-spin bowlers in first-class cricket.
1927Observer 29 May 28/4 It was a clear case for old Brown's *leg-spinners. 1965P. Walker Winning Cricket iv. 57 Nowadays you have to bowl leg spinners with the accuracy of an orthodox right hander to achieve even moderate success.
1906Westm. Gaz. 12 July 4/1 This *leg-stroke off a straight ball has two great merits—it scores runs and it puts the bowler off. 1955Cricket—How to Play (M.C.C.) 47 (heading) Practising leg-strokes.
1833C. C. Clarke Nyren's Cricketer's Guide (1888) 23 A ball..pitched on the inside of the *leg stump. 1937,1956Leg stump [see Chinese cut].
1846W. Denison Cricket Sk. Players 17 His [sc. G. Brockwell's] ‘*leg sweeps’ are very powerful, and generally speaking they are along the ground—not lifted. 1955A. Ross Australia 55 xii. 168 His leg-sweep was comfortably finished before the ball had got anywhere near him.
1898G. Giffen With Bat & Ball x. 153 Cooper bowled the *leg-theory almost as remarkably as the off-theory is practised nowadays. 1923Daily Mail 11 Aug. 7/4 Newman, following the fashion of the match, bowled the leg theory with a crescent of fieldsmen close in on the leg side. 1956N. Cardus Close of Play 26 He would have discovered a way of retaliation against leg-traps and leg-theories.
1923Wisden's Cricketers' Almanack 329 His stock ball is the inswinger and here again he often hits the wicket and has not got to rely on his *leg-traps. 1924N. Cardus Days in Sun 50 The good balls were pushed for singles through the leg-trap—when they did not get wickets. 1953R. Warner Escapade ii. iii. 93 It's a leg-trap... You see, my dear, the batsman is absolutely forced to play every ball to the leg. 1963Times 5 June 4/2 He took a pace to Titmus only to turn him gently into the leg trap.
Add:[I.] [2.] h. In various expressions with reference to sexual intercourse, esp. to get one's leg over, (of a man) to copulate or achieve sexual intercourse (with). See also *leg-over, sense 17 a below. Brit. slang.
1719T. D'Urfey Wit & Mirth V. 45 No sneaking Rebel shall lift a Leg o'er me. 1975J. Pidgeon Flame i. 21 Still quite a one for the birds is our Jack. He'll be getting his leg over in the pension queue. 1980D. Morris Tribal Words (typescript) 391 It is sometimes said of a player that ‘he played so well today, he must have got his leg over last night’. 1987D. Kartun Megiddo xxviii. 264 Daft, spending like that on a tart like her. Half the garrison have had their leg over. 1991R. Doyle Van (1992) 256 Maybe just the once he'd like to get the leg over one of these kind of women, only the once, in a hotel room or in her apartment, and then he'd be satisfied. 1995Independent 25 May 26/7 Everyone dicking around chasing tail and trying to get their leg over.
i. pl. The potential (in a book, film, play, etc.) for popularity; the ability to ‘run’ (run v. B. 27 c). Esp. in phr. to have legs. colloq. (orig. and chiefly U.S.).
1930R. R. Clark Let. in Texas Folk-lore Soc. Publ. VIII. 153 His stuff was much copied and when he wrote something that went the rounds he would say that ‘it had legs’. 1978N.Y. Times Mag. 23 July 22/2 Books that used to be called pageturners but are now referred to as books with legs, presumably because they seem to walk off the shelves. 1985Time 4 Feb. 85 Sometimes..movies can elude their death warrants and flourish into cult objects through doggedness and word of mouth. They acquire ‘legs’. 1991Spy (N.Y.) Mar. 19/2 The Tracking Study can be used to assess a film's potential ‘legs’. 1993Globe & Mail (Toronto) 31 July c13/2 A TV endorsement by a smitten Oprah Winfrey in May certainly helped boost sales, but The Bridges of Madison County had shown its legs long before that.
[5.] b. A woman, considered as a source of sexual satisfaction; sexual intercourse. U.S. slang.
[1942Berrey & Van den Bark Amer. Thes. Slang §427/2 Well-formed young woman,..legs.] 1968–70Current Slang (Univ. S. Dakota) III–IV. 78 Leg, n. A girl. 1977Amer. Speech 1975 L. 62 Leg n, promiscuous female, one who readily engages in sexual intercourse. 1978Maledicta 1977 I. 227 Some free leg (sex). 1988M. Mustapha Playboy of W. Indies ii. 45 Mama Benin: Well he musta been a good looking fella, going after de women and em, eh. Mac: Woman wat. If he see a piece a leg coming gross de field he'd run hide in de ole shed.
[11.] c. Oil Industry. Each of the steel columns extending below the main deck of an oil rig, used to float and stabilize the vessel or to rest it on the seabed.
1957Oil & Gas Jrnl. 1 Apr. 77/1 The tripod platform..has legs 4 ft. in diameter and 129 ft. long. 1967Rep. Inquiry Causes Accident to Sea Gem (Cmnd. 3409) i. 6 in Parl. Papers 1966–7 XXI. 169 Every contact of a floating object having a dead weight of several hundred tons with the supporting legs of an oil rig is a potential source of danger. 1969Punch 26 Feb. 313/2 The control room man can flood or pump out the legs just by squeezing small levers—four thousand tons of water in each leg, and she sinks to rest on the sea bottom. A bit less and she floats. 1973C. Callow Power from Sea vi. 126 Once the legs were driven into the sea-bed no one could see or could know exactly what there was in the lowermost nine feet of the leg. 1992D. McLean Bucket of Tongues 38 There was a couple of divers doing maintenance on the outside of the leg.
[III.] [17.] [a.] leg-over Brit. slang, (an act of) sexual intercourse.
1975Time Out 7 Mar. 25/4 Alan Price showing those M'mselles (‘Oooh, Alfee!’) what a British *leg over is all about. 1986City Limits 16 Oct. 41 Whether it's snogging, leg-over or bedroom, this is a form of soul that is continuously in demand. 1992Daily Star 2 July 9/2 Imagine how much easier life would be if every time they indulged in an extra-marital legover they got away with it by saying they'd done it to save the world.
▪ II. leg, v.|lɛg|
[f. leg n.]
1. intr. to leg it: To use the legs, to walk fast or run; also simply to leg (Sc. and dial.).
1601Deacon & Walker Spirits & Divels 3 Let vs legge it a little. 1790D. Morison Poems 7 The wives leg hame an' trim their fires. 1837Haliburton Clockm. Ser. i. xxiv, He was a leggin it off hot foot. 1899R. Kipling Stalky i. 4 We're goin' along the cliffs after butterflies..We're goin' to leg it, too. You'd better leave your book behind.
†2. to leg it, to ‘make a leg’. to leg unto, to bow to (indirect passive in quot.). Obs. rare.
1628Sir R. Hobart Edw. II, cclii, [They] Are legg'd and crouch'd unto for feare they sting. 1633Shirley Bird in a Cage v. i, He'l kisse his hand and leg it.
3. trans. To propel or work (a boat) through a canal-tunnel by means of the legs (see quot. 1861); to navigate (a tunnel) in this way; also to leg through.
1836Sir G. Head Home Tour 144 Two hours is the time occupied in ‘legging’ a boat through. 1861Smiles Engineers I. 441 note, The men who ‘leg’ the boat..lie on their backs..and propel it along by means of their feet pressing against the top or sides of the tunnel. Ibid. II. 421 After legging Harecastle Tunnel..the men were usually completely exhausted. 1885Harper's Mag. May 863/1 To ‘leg through’ this 'ere tunnel. 1891V. C. Cotes 2 Girls on Barge 86 A little..boy was lying on his back, legging the boat along.
4. to leg up (a yacht): to shore up or support with legs or props when in dry harbour.
1886R. C. Leslie Sea-painter's Log iv. 68 To lay ashore and leg-up a yacht.
5. a. To hit on the leg. (Cf. wing v.)
1852Blackw. Mag. LXXII. 303 Those [pebbles] aimed at his head and body he turned aside, and jumped over those that threatened to leg him.
b. To seize or hold by the leg.
1876Coursing Calendar 149 Birkdale..came round on the outside and legged the hare, which Stolen Moments killed. 1951L. G. D. Acland Early Canterbury Runs 385 To leg a sheep is to haul him from the pen to the board by his hind leg, a practice much objected to, especially by owners of heavy sheep.
6. dial. and slang. To trip up (a person) by seizing his leg.
1882Sat. Rev. 22 Apr. 488/1 The policeman ordered them to move on... Presently they ‘legged the copper’, and he fell to the ground.
7. Cricket. To send to leg.
1902Westm. Gaz. 11 July 5/2 The newcomer at once started scoring... Nicholl followed him by legging Hopley to the covered stands. 1903Star 8 July 3/4 His first ball was legged by Ranji for what would really have been 3 with a couple of smart sprinters. |