lanky

comparative lankier · superlative lankiest

1. derogatoryinformalTall, slim, and rather ungraceful or awkward.

   tall and lanky

   5 more examples

   awkwardly lanky

   long, lanky frame

   The lanky teenager towered over his classmates.

   A lanky cat slinked across the alley.

   Thurston felt he’d established a relationship with Hilly, or that at the very least Hilly would recognize him as the tall, lanky kid who said hi to him almost every night.

   2015, Kim Gordon, chapter 20, in Carrie Thornton, editor, Girl in a Band, New York: Dey st., →ISBN, page 122

   Synonyms: gangly

1. The dialect of English spoken in Lancashire.

   The rest of us , whether we spoke Lanky or Urdu, whether we were born in Karachi or Keighley, could go to hell.

   2008 September 4, Stuart Maconie, Pies and Prejudice: In search of the North, Random House, →ISBN, page 167

2. colloquialhistoricalThe Lancashire and Yorkshire Railway.

   We had an extra pilot [engine] on summer Saturdays for excursion traffic and on this particular day we had a Lanky ' A ' class.

   2012 July 1, Kenn Pearce, Shed Side in South Lancashire and Cheshire: The Last Days of Steam, The History Press, →ISBN

   1 more example

   The Lanky was 'The Business Line' – cotton, wool and coal – but a lot of northern towns now had their own 'wakes' or holiday week, and the Lanky was all for that, because then people wanted to pack up, and they wanted to be off.

   2009 April 2, Andrew Martin, The Blackpool Highflyer, Faber & Faber, →ISBN

plural Lankies

1. Someone from Lancashire.

   It is often observed that Lankies (Lancashire folk), on entering a room, whether in the heat of summer or the cold of winter, invariably rush to the fire-place.

   1878, Henry Mills Alden, Harper's New Monthly Magazine, page 320

   1 more example

   I am what a Yorkshireman would call a 'Lanky', and perhaps as poor a specimen of the cotton county's human produce as ever trounced barefoot through its lanes, or shuddered at the sound of its factory bells.

   1884, Benjamin Brierley, Tales and Sketches of Lancashire Life, page 25

1. not comparableFrom Lancashire or having distinctive Lancashire traits.

   Despite several stellar features - amongst others Phelps - he was Lanky, too

   1909, Harry Lindley, Merely Players ..., page 21

   2 more examples

   In any case, Butch spoke the Yankee way, not the Lanky way and, no matter where you look, it's not until the football age of industry and terraces that Homo Northwestus gets heroes.

   1992, Bill T. Jones, Liz Andrew, Homo Northwestus: A Quest for the Species, North-West Man : Based on the Granada Television Series with Ray Gosling

   Burnley's deputy mayor, Alderman Keighley, sent them on their way with a brief address, which concluded with a Lanky send-off for Lancashire lads

   2015 October 22, Stewart Binns, The Darkness and the Thunder: 1915: The Great War Series, Penguin UK, →ISBN