a race in which pairs of competitors run with their adjacent legs tied together
three-legged race in American English
noun
a race among a number of paired contestants, each contestant having one leg tied to the adjacent leg of his or her partner
Word origin
[1900–05]This word is first recorded in the period 1900–05. Other words that entered Englishat around the same time include: burnout, cathode-ray tube, clone, hormone, internship