akimbo

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The word akimbo is at least 600 years old and one source points to a literal meaning of "a keen bow" meaning

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Definitions (6)

Toggle American Heritage definitions American Heritage Dictionary (3)

  1. adverb In or into a position in which the hands are on the hips and the elbows are bowed outward: children standing akimbo by the fence.
  2. adjective Placed in such a way as to have the hands on the hips and the elbows bowed outward: children standing with arms akimbo.
  3. adjective Being in a bent, bowed, or arched position: "There he remained, dead to the world, limbs akimbo, until we left” (Alex Shoumatoff).

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Examples (50)

  • Arms akimbo, they stand ready to drive a bony elbow into your side...or, if things get really serious, to do some damage with those pointy stiletto heels.Waif-thin or not, don't underestimate these women.
  • Over there the girl was talking to another girl who had been attracted by her cries: and with arms akimbo, they were looking at each other and shouting with laughter II. —  Jean-Christophe, Vol. I
  • She was now standing arms akimbo, her shoulders drooping a little, her head cocked to one side, her glasses winking in the sunlight. —  To Kill A Mockingbird
  • The word akimbo is at least 600 years old and one source points to a literal meaning of "a keen bow" meaning —  OUPblog
  • It was in one of these that our word akimbo unexpectedly appeared more than 200 years earlier than the next citation in the 1600s. —  OUPblog
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This word has been looked up 155 times.

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Etymologies (1)

Toggle American Heritage etymologies American Heritage Dictionary (1)

  1. Middle English in kenebowe : in, in; see in1 + kenebowe (kene-, of unknown meaning + bowe, bow, bend; see bow3).
 

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/əˈkɪmboʊ/
by American Heritage

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