Meanings
comparative more linnow · superlative most linnow · alternative archaic lennow
- ShropshiredialectalespeciallyobsoleteWorcestershireFlexible, supple.
"I'm as linnow now as ever."
1877, "an aged man", quoted in The Montgomeryshire Collections, page 2162 more examples
Baynyngmaketh the skynne linnowe or soupulle.
1528 (1535), Paynel, Salerne's Regim.,, page 108 bThen Rowland got up with a despairing gesture. “I haven't nobody,” he murmured, and went tottering up the stairs. “Lor!” said Priss meditatively, “I thought as the lad wud have had more spunk in 'im, but he's as linnow as a glove.
1904, Catherine Milnes Gaskell, Old Shropshire Life, page 291
Origin
- West Midland Middle Englishlengh
- Englishlinnow
Uncertain; perhaps from West Midland Middle English lengh, lenghe (“length”), with vocalisation of final /x/ and the original meaning being "lengthy, slender", though some trace of both the formal and semantic development would be expected already in Middle English.
More words from West Midland Middle English
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Cite this entry
linnow. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 3, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/linnow
“linnow.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/linnow. Accessed November 3, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “linnow,” accessed November 3, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/linnow.
Source: linnow on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.