spindle-shankedadj.
1. Having long and slender legs; spindle-legged. (Usually with contemptuous force.)
a. Of persons or animals.
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the world > life > the body > external parts of body > limb > leg > [adjective] > types of > having
jamby?a1400
well-legged1566
spindle-shankedc1600
spindle-shank1604
post-legged1608
splay-legged1638
duck-legged1650
stalk-legged1659
long-limbed1660
sharp-shinned1704
spindle-legged1710
leggy1776
red-legged1817
flamingo-legged1862
thick-legged1873
split-up1874
pin-legged1884
lank-legged1906
straddly1921
c1600 Timon (1980) ii. i. 23 I did reiect..Demetrius Cause he was spindle shankt.
1692 London Gaz. No. 2787/4 Went away from his Master.., one Cæsar Rammer,..aged about 14,..small of growth, and spindle-shank'd.
1713 J. Addison in Guardian 2 July 1/1 Her Lawyer..is a little, rivelled, spindle-shanked Gentleman.
a1754 H. Fielding Fathers (1778) ii. i. 29 I will neither marry my daughter to a spindle shank'd beau, nor my son to a rampant woman of quality.
1799 Sporting Mag. Dec. 107/2 The poor, slight, weedy, spindle-shanked stock of brood mares.
1837 Creevey in H. Maxwell Creevey Papers (1904) II. 326 A chattering, capering, spindle-shanked gaby.
1863 Blackwood's Edinb. Mag. Sept. 276 The spindleshanked son of the notary Arouet.
b. Of articles of furniture.
ΘΚΠ
society > inhabiting and dwelling > inhabited place > a building > furniture and fittings > [adjective] > types of furniture generally > as having specific parts
two-leaved1610
two-leaf1634
fall-down1823
marble-topped1840
spindle-shank1841
spindle-shanked1849
spindle-legged1863
marble-top1869
armed1878
roll-top1884
monopod1890
break-front1928
1849 R. S. Surtees Soapey Sponge's Sporting Tour xxvi, in New Monthly Mag. Oct. 235 An old spindle-shanked sideboard with very little middle.
2. Of legs: Long and thin.
ΘΚΠ
the world > life > the body > external parts of body > limb > leg > [adjective] > types of
spindle-shanked1664
pipestem1833
1664 H. Power Exper. Philos. i. 17 Such prodigiously little spindle-shank'd leggs.
This entry has not yet been fully updated (first published 1914; most recently modified version published online March 2022).
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adj.c1600