leg
Language: English
Part of speech: noun
Pronunciation: ipa: /lɛɡ/
note: some US dialects
ipa: /leɪɡ/
rhymes: -ɛɡ
Forms: form: legs
form: legge
Etymology: From Middle English leg, legge, from Old Norse leggr (“leg, calf, bone of the arm or leg, hollow tube, stalk”), from Proto-Germanic *lagjaz, *lagwijaz (“leg, thigh”) (see it for more).
Cognate with Scots leg (“leg”), Icelandic leggur (“leg, limb”), Norwegian Bokmål legg (“leg”), Norwegian Nynorsk legg (“leg”), Swedish lägg (“leg, shank, shaft”), Danish læg (“leg”), Lombardic lagi (“thigh, shank, leg”), Latin lacertus (“limb, arm”), Persian لنگ (leng). Upon borrowing, mostly displaced the native Old English term sċanca (Modern English shank).
Senses: examples: text: Insects have six legs.
glosses: A limb or appendage that an animal uses for support or locomotion on land.
examples: text: Dan won't be able to come to the party, since he broke his leg last week and is now on crutches.
glosses: In humans, the lower limb extending from the groin to the ankle.
topics: anatomy
medicine
sciences
glosses: The portion of the lower limb of a human that extends from the knee to the ankle.
examples: text: The left leg of these jeans has a tear.
glosses: A part of garment, such as a pair of trousers/pants, that covers a leg.
examples: text: the legs of a chair or table
glosses: A rod-like protrusion from an inanimate object, such as a piece of furniture, supporting it from underneath.
examples: text: This observation is an important leg of my argument.
glosses: Something that supports.
examples: text: After six days, we're finally in the last leg of our cross-country trip.
glosses: A stage of a journey, race etc.
topics: nautical
transport
glosses: A distance that a sailing vessel does without changing the sails from one side to the other.
topics: nautical
transport
glosses: One side of a multiple-sided (often triangular) course in a sailing race.
examples: text: A stunning performance from the Republic of Ireland all but sealed progress to Euro 2012 as they crushed nine-man Estonia 4-0 in the first leg of the qualifying play-off tie in A Le Coq Arena in Tallinn.
ref: 2011 November 11, Rory Houston, “Estonia 0-4 Republic of Ireland”, in RTE Sport:
topics: hobbies
lifestyle
sports
glosses: A single game or match played in a tournament or other sporting contest.
topics: geometry
mathematics
sciences
glosses: One of the two sides of a right triangle that is not the hypotenuse.
topics: geometry
mathematics
sciences
glosses: One of the two equal sides of an isosceles triangle.
topics: geometry
mathematics
sciences
glosses: One of the branches of a hyperbola or other curve which extend outward indefinitely.
examples: text: This proposal has no legs. Almost everyone opposes it.
text: I’m trying to go with my head and focus on the first guy, because this could be a relationship with legs.
ref: 2020 February 2, “One is a great guy; the other is good in bed. So who do I choose?”, in The Guardian:
glosses: The ability of something to persist or succeed over a long period of time.
glosses: A disreputable sporting character; a blackleg.
glosses: An extension of a steam boiler downward, in the form of a narrow space between vertical plates, sometimes nearly surrounding the furnace and ash pit, and serving to support the boiler; called also water leg.
glosses: In a grain elevator, the case containing the lower part of the belt which carries the buckets.
examples: text: ;
text: Ponsonby-Smythe hit a thumping drive through the leg fielders.
topics: ball-games
cricket
games
hobbies
lifestyle
sports
synonyms: on
antonyms: off
glosses: Denotes the half of the field on the same side as the batsman's legs; the left side for a right-handed batsman.
topics: communications
electrical-engineering
engineering
natural-sciences
physical-sciences
telecommunications
telephony
glosses: A branch or lateral circuit connecting an instrument with the main line.
topics: business
electrical-engineering
electricity
electromagnetism
energy
engineering
natural-sciences
physical-sciences
physics
glosses: A branch circuit; one phase of a polyphase system.
topics: business
finance
glosses: An underlying instrument of a derivatives strategy.
examples: text: Which was lower than whale shit in the eyes of any paratrooper; it would have been a disgrace to be a leg.
ref: 2019, Elliot Murphy, A Vietnam Story, page 94:
topics: government
military
politics
war
glosses: An army soldier assigned to a paratrooper unit who has not yet been qualified as a paratrooper.
examples: text: Hickman came in, making his legs, and stroking his cravat and ruffles.
ref: 1748, [Samuel Richardson], “Letter LXXIV”, in Clarissa. Or, The History of a Young Lady: […], volume (please specify |volume=I to VII), London: […] S[amuel] Richardson; […], →OCLC:
glosses: A gesture of submission; a bow or curtsey. Chiefly in phrase make a leg.
examples: text: A leg is one column of a story. It has two legs if it is set in two columns and three legs if it is set in three columns. Avoid legs longer than 10 inches and shorter than 1 inch.
ref: 2015, Homer L. Hall, Megan Fromm, Aaron Manfull, Student Journalism & Media Literacy, page 266:
topics: journalism
media
glosses: A column, as a unit of length of text as laid out.
examples: text: The street was deserted. We acted quickly. Josiah gave me a leg. I threw my jacket over the broken glass […]
ref: 1902, The Idler: An Illustrated Monthly Magazine, volume 21, page 737:
glosses: Synonym of leg up (“forming a step for a person's feet with one's hands”).
synonyms: word: leg up
extra: forming a step for a person's feet with one's hands
examples: text: If one leg from your 2-way parlay pushes and the other wins, your parlay bet wins and is paid off as if it's a straight bet (paying -110 or whatever the odds were).
ref: 2020, Swain Scheps, Sports Betting For Dummies, Hoboken, N.J.: John Wiley & Sons, Inc., →ISBN, page 265:
topics: gambling
games
glosses: An individual bet in a parlay (a series of bets where the stake and winnings are cumulatively carried forward).
Synonyms: sense: part of garment that covers a leg
word: pant leg
sense: part of garment that covers a leg
word: pantleg
sense: side of a right triangle
word: cathetus
word: drumstick
word: gam
word: leg
Hypernyms: word: limb
Meronyms: word: thigh
word: knee
word: calf
word: ankle
Derived terms: airleg
a leg to stand on
an arm and a leg
base leg
bootleg
bowleg
boyleg
break a leg
Cabriole leg
change the leg
chicken leg
Cochin leg
crooked as a dog's hind leg
dead leg
deadleg
dead-leg
deep square leg
dogleg
dog-leg
don't pee on my leg and tell me it's raining
don't piss on my leg and tell me it's raining
elephant leg
factory leg
fast leg theory
fine leg
first leg
foreleg
free leg
gateleg
get a leg up
get one's leg over
good leg
hang a leg
have a bone in one's leg
highleg
hind leg
hogleg
hog leg
hog's leg
hollow leg
inside leg
interleg
jake leg
leg art
leg bail
Legbar
legbeard
leg before
leg before wicket
leg biter
legbone
leg break
leg-breaker
leg breaker
leg bridge
leg business
leg bye
legcuff
leg cuff
leg curl
leg cutter
leg day
leg drop
leg extension
legful
leggie
leggish
leg glance
leggy
legharness
leghold
leghole
leg iron
leg irons
leg it
legless
leglet
leglike
leglock
leg lock
leg man
legman
leg-of-mutton fist
leg-of-mutton sleeve
leg-o'-mutton sleeve
leg-over
legplate
leg press
leg-pull
legpuller
leg-puller
leg-pulling
leg raise
legroom
leg rope
legs all the way to one's neck
legs eleven
leg show
legshow
leg side
legside
legsie
leg slip
legspan
leg spin
leg-spinner
leg spinner
leg stump
leg sweep
leg theory
leg-up
leg up
leg up on
leg warmer
leg-warmer
legwear
leg-work
legwork
leg work
make a leg
mare's leg
marine leg
mesoleg
metaleg
middle leg
midleg
milk leg
multileg
not have a leg to stand on
on leg
peg leg
peg-leg
piss on someone's leg and tell them it's raining
proleg
propleg
puffleg
puff-leg
pull someone's leg
pull the other leg
put one's pants on one leg at a time
put one's trousers on one leg at a time
put on one's pants one leg at a time
put on one's trousers one leg at a time
red-leg
redleg
restless leg syndrome
roughleg
saber leg
sabre leg
scimitar leg
second leg
shake-a-leg
shake a leg
short leg
show a bit of leg
show a leg
spacelegs
spindlelegs
splayleg
square leg
square leg umpire
stanky leg
stretch one's legs
talk someone's leg off
talk the hind leg off a donkey
talk the leg off the Lamb of God
tangle-leg
tanglelegs
third leg
trouser leg
underleg
white leg
wooden leg
Related terms: ankle
arm
buttocks
calf
crus
elbow
foot
hip
joint
knee
lap
limb
shank
shin
thick
thigh
vertebra