Meanings
plural leggers
- informalA bootlegger.
Oh, you mean the ex-legger the eldest girl picked up and went and married.
1939, Raymond Chandler, The Big Sleep - UKobsoleteA 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.
- in compoundsSomething 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 61 more example
[…] 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)
Origin
Rhymes & wordplay
Anagrams
Cite this entry
legger. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 3, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/legger
“legger.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/legger. Accessed November 3, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “legger,” accessed November 3, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/legger.
Source: legger on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.