Spindleshanks
noun ·Rare ·Advanced level
Definitions
- 1 A thin, lanky person with long legs. archaic, derogatory
"“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."
- 2 long thin legs wordnet
- 3 a thin person with long thin legs wordnet
Example
More examples"“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."
Etymology
From spindle + shanks.
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Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.