lithe

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“
His figure was slight and lithe, his expression alert and intelligent, his eyes gray blue and his head large.

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Definitions (16)

Toggle American Heritage definitions American Heritage Dictionary (2)

  1. adjective Readily bent; supple: lithe birch branches.
  2. adjective Marked by effortless grace: a lithe ballet dancer.

Toggle Century definitions Century Dictionary (10)

Toggle GNU Webster definitions GNU Webster's 1913 (3)

Toggle WordNet definitions WordNet (1)

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Examples (50)

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This word has been looked up 273 times.

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Etymologies (5)

Toggle American Heritage etymologies American Heritage Dictionary (1)

  1. Middle English, from Old English līthe, flexible, mild.

Toggle Century etymologies Century Dictionary (4)

  1. from Middle English lithe, lythe (also lind, lynd: see lind), from Anglo-Saxon līthe, gentle, soft, = Old Saxon līthi = Middle Low German linde = Old High German lindi, Middle High German linde, German lind (and gelinde) = Danish lind, gentle, soft, mild, tender (cf. Latin lentus, pliant, flexible, tenacious, tough, viscous, slow, easy, etc.: see lent); with formative -th, from √ lin, seen in German dial. (Bavarian) len, soft, = Icelandic linr, soft, = Latin lēnis, soft, mild (see lenity, lenient, etc.), and in the verb, Anglo-Saxon linnan, etc., cease: see lin.
  2. from Middle English lithen, lethen, from Anglo-Saxon līthian, become or make soft or mild, from līthe, soft: see lithe, a.
  3. from Middle English lithen, lytha, from Icelandic hlydha (= Danish lytte), listen, from hljōdh, hearing, what is heard, a sound; cf. Anglo-Saxon hleóthor, hearing, a sound, akin to hlūd, loud, hlyst, hearing: see list, loud.
  4. Middle English, from Anglo-Saxon līthan, go: see lead.
 

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/lajð/
by American Heritage
by Thomas Molitor

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