gangly
English
[edit]Etymology
[edit]An American English alteration of gangling.[1][2]
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, page 61:
- 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
References
[edit]- ^ “gangly, adj.”, in OED Online
, Oxford: Oxford University Press, launched 2000.
- ^ Douglas Harper (2001–2024) “gangly (adj.)”, in Online Etymology Dictionary.
