sharp-elbowed

comparative more sharp-elbowed · superlative most sharp-elbowed

1. not comparableusuallyPossessing narrow, bony, rather pointed elbows.

   […] dire faces, figures dire, Sharp-knee'd, sharp-elbowed, and lean-ankled too

   1802, William Wordsworth, The Pedlar

   1 more example

   —Go to the Bible!—said a sharp voice from a sharp-faced, sharp-eyed, sharp-elbowed, strenuous-looking woman in a black dress.

   1882, Oliver Wendell Holmes, chapter 1, in The Professor at the Breakfast Table

2. figurativelyinformalnot comparableusuallyPushy; having a boldly assertive manner intended to establish an advantage.

   sharp-elbowed parents

   4 more examples

   No sooner had President Washington been sworn in, wearing mousy, egalitarian brown broadcloth, than the sharp-elbowed jockeying for social status began.

   1977 October 24, Michael and Ariane Batterberry, “Party Politics”, in New York, page 81

   With his stocky build, spread-collar shirts and locker-room charm, Walter Yetnikoff fit right in among the sharp-elbowed power brokers in the music business.

   1990 September 17, Richard Behar, “A Music King's Shattering Fall”, in Time, retrieved 28 Jun 2015

   Fifteen documentaries are in sharp-elbowed competition to be among the five Oscar nominees.

   2014 December 4, Brooks Barnes, Michael Cieply, “Documentaries Jostle Against Oscar Obscurity”, in New York Times, retrieved 28 Jun 2015

   In this imagined reality, sharp-elbowed parents are handed ‘golden tickets’ for endless support. Meanwhile, we battle for the bare minimum[.]

   2024 January 7, John Harris, “As councils crumble, a new scapegoat has been found: the parents of disabled and vulnerable children”, in The Guardian, →ISSN