English

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Etymology

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From clean (shapely, well-proportioned) +‎ limbed (having limbs of a specified kind or quality, adjective).

Pronunciation

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Adjective

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clean-limbed (comparative more clean-limbed, superlative most clean-limbed)

  1. (dated) Having a slender, athletic body; lithe.
    • 1898, Gertrude Atherton, chapter VI, in The Valiant Runaways, New York, N.Y.: Dodd, Mead and Company, →OCLC, page 60:
      He was big and clean-limbed and sinewy, with small cunning eyes, a resolute mouth and chin, and an air of perfect fearlessness. Roldan warmed to him, and looked with admiration and envy at the muscles on his splendid limbs.
    • 1920 December, Wilber Wales Wheeler, “Angel Man”, in Munsey’s Magazine, volume LXXI, number 3, New York, N.Y.: The Frank A[ndrew] Munsey Company, [], published 1921, →OCLC, page 573, column 2:
      He was one of those clean-cut and clean-limbed men that young girls like to dream about—frank, honest, and with a keen sense of humor—for a man.

Translations

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Further reading

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