spindleshanks
nounEtymology From spindle + shanks.
1
Archaic, Derogatory A thin, lanky person with long legs.
- “If I chose,” said she, “to remain a spinster, is that any reason why every bespectacled spindleshanks sitting under an outrageous sign should remark upon it?” “Spindleshanks?” said I. “Am I to understand that you refer to me as Spindleshanks?" "You are," she said, shortly. “I may not,” said I, with dignity, “have the lower extremities of a Grecian athlete in marble, but I assure you that, such as they are, my limbs are ample for my proportions.1918, Clarence Budington Kelland, Harper's Magazine - Volume 136:
- Related terms
- spindle-legged, spindle-shanked, spindly