legger
nounEtymology From leg + -er.
1
Informal A bootlegger.
- Oh, you mean the ex-legger the eldest girl picked up and went and married.1939, Raymond Chandler, The Big Sleep:
2
UK, Obsolete A man employed by the owners of a canal to push boats through narrow canal tunnels. The legger would lie on his back on a piece of wood on the boat with his feet reaching to the tunnel wall, and walk it along. This could be done by the boat's crew, but the canals employed men specifically for the task because they could do it faster and prevent a tunnel becoming a bottleneck for traffic.
3
In compounds Something having the specified kind or number of legs.
- Won't your ladyship condescend to use a three legger. (offers a stool)1842, James Bruton, Bathing: a farce, in one act, page 6:
- […] a yellow-legger, it also had a yellow beak. Which meant it wasn't a layer anymore and was okay to eat. Nowadays we get yellow-legged fryers.1991, Pearl Violette Metzelthin, Ruth Reichl, Gourmet (volume 51, issues 1-6, page 60)
- Related terms
- thousand-legger