Meanings
alternative spindle-shanks
- 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 136Synonyms: spindlelegs, thin person
Synonyms & antonyms
nounA thin, lanky person with long legs.
More synonyms by meaning
Synonym sets from Open English WordNet, CC BY 4.0.
Origin
Cite this entry
spindleshanks. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 3, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/spindleshanks
“spindleshanks.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/spindleshanks. Accessed November 3, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “spindleshanks,” accessed November 3, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/spindleshanks.
Source: spindleshanks on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.