gangly
English edit
Etymology edit
(This etymology is missing or incomplete. Please add to it, or discuss it at the Etymology scriptorium.)
Pronunciation edit
Adjective edit
gangly (comparative ganglier, superlative gangliest)
- Tall and thin, especially so as to cause physical awkwardness.
- 1870–1871 (date written), Mark Twain [pseudonym; Samuel Langhorne Clemens], chapter VII, in Roughing It, Hartford, Conn.: American Publishing Company [et al.], published 1872, →OCLC:
- I should have shot that long gangly lubber they called Hank, if I could have done it without crippling six or seven other people—but of course I couldn't
- 1917, Jack London, chapter XV, in Michael, Brother of Jerry:
- A rangy, gangly, Scandinavian youth of a sailor, droop-shouldered, six feet six and slender as a lath, with pallid eyes of palest blue and skin and hair attuned to the same colour scheme, joined Kwaque in his work.
- 1957, Jack Kerouac, On the Road, Viking Press, →OCLC:
- He was a tall, gangly, shy satirist who mumbled to you with his head turned away and always said funny things.
- 1986, John le Carré, A Perfect Spy:
- She was gangly and wild and walked with her wrists turned inside out...
- 2007, Oswald J. Schmitz, Ecology and Ecosystem Conservation, page 34:
- Individuals of this rabbit species tend to be very large (about the size of a beagle dog); they have long ears and long, gangly legs and a very thin fur coats.
- 2011 October 15, Owen Phillips, “Stoke 2 - 0 Fulham”, in BBC Sport[1]:
- [Peter Crouch] The gangly striker played a one-two with Jermaine Pennant as the winger cut in from the right, and although Pennant easily jinked past centre-half Brede Hangeland, he shot narrowly wide of the far post.
Synonyms edit
- See also Thesaurus:scrawny
- lanky
Derived terms edit
Related terms edit
Translations edit
tall and thin, especially so as to cause physical awkwardness