Definition

1. Adjective:
   • Having long, slender, and often thin or spindly legs: Describes a person or animal whose legs are noticeably long and thin, sometimes suggesting a lack of muscularity or a fragile appearance.

Usage

• The word spindle-shanked is a descriptive adjective, often used in literary or somewhat formal contexts to paint a vivid physical image. It can carry a neutral descriptive tone or a slightly critical one, implying excessive thinness or frailty.
• It is typically used attributively (before a noun) or predictively (after a linking verb like 'be' or 'seem').

Examples

• Attributive use:
  • The spindle-shanked foal struggled to keep up with its mother.
  • He was a tall, spindle-shanked youth who seemed all elbows and knees.
• Predictive use:
  • The old horse had become quite spindle-shanked in its later years.
  • Many of the birds in that species are spindle-shanked.

Advanced Usage

• Descriptive Nuance: While the core meaning is "having long slender legs," the term often implies that the legs are so thin they resemble spindles (the rods used in spinning), suggesting a lack of strength or substance.
  • The villain was depicted as a spindle-shanked coward, all height and no might.

Variants and Related Words

• Spindle-legged (adjective): A direct synonym with identical meaning.
  • The spindle-legged model walked down the runway.
• Spindly (adjective): More general, describing anything long, thin, and often frail-looking (e.g., spindly legs, spindly plants).
  • The plant grew tall but remained spindly due to lack of light.

Synonyms

• Long-legged: Neutral term for having long legs.
• Lanky: Tall and thin in an ungainly way.
• Gangly: (Also gangling) Tall, thin, and awkwardly built.

Antonyms

• Stocky: Broad and sturdily built.
• Sturdy: Strongly and solidly built.
• Short-legged: Having legs that are not long.

Adjective

1. having long slender legs