spindleshanks

S1P3I1N1D2L1E1S1H4A1N1K5S1

noun

A thin, lanky person with long legs.

Scrabble 23

Meanings

nounspindleshanks (plural spindleshanks)

alternative spindle-shanks

  1. archaicderogatoryA thin, lanky person with long legs.
    1 more example

    “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.

    1918, Clarence Budington Kelland, Harper's Magazine - Volume 136

    Synonyms: spindlelegs, thin person

Synonyms & antonyms

nounA thin, lanky person with long legs.

More synonyms by meaning

nouna thin person with long thin legs

nounlong thin legs

Broader

Synonym sets from Open English WordNet, CC BY 4.0.

Origin

Cite this entry
APA

spindleshanks. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 3, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/spindleshanks

MLA

“spindleshanks.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/spindleshanks. Accessed November 3, 2026.

Chicago

WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “spindleshanks,” accessed November 3, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/spindleshanks.

Source: spindleshanks on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.