spindle-shanks

Frenchmen are introduced, and he will find them almost invariably thin, with ludicrous spindle-shanks, pigtails, outstretched hands, shrugging shoulders, and queer hair and mustachios.

George Cruikshank 2006

Such a set of spindle-shanks I never saw, not even in Trumbull's famous Declaration of Independence, in which we have the satisfaction of assuring ourselves that the fathers of our liberty had two legs apiece, and crossed them in concert with the utmost regularity.

The Atlantic Monthly, Volume 04, No. 24, October, 1859 Various

They came in front at first -- froggy's come behind, he wants them to swim with -- the most curious spindle-shanks of arms that can be imagined, with elbows always flexed, and fingers always stretched apart.

"Wee Tim'rous Beasties" Studies of Animal life and Character Douglas English

I bet if Polly Martin wore a blue calico dress so short her spindle-shanks showed, and flew across our farm, you couldn't tell her from a heron.

Laddie: A True Blue Story 1913

His thin spindle-shanks supported an oblong, protruding stomach, resembling an elderly monkey's, which seemed so heavy it swayed his back to carry it.

The Clansman An Historical Romance of the Ku Klux Klan Thomas Dixon 1905

I could not help smiling at the utter amazement expressed upon my mother's face as she gazed at him, for the loss of his jack-boots exposed a pair of interminable spindle-shanks which were in ludicrous contrast to the baggy low country knee-breeches which surmounted them.

Micah Clarke His Statement as made to his three grandchildren Joseph, Gervas and Reuben During the Hard Winter of 1734 Arthur Conan Doyle 1894

I bet if Polly Martin wore a blue calico dress so short her spindle-shanks showed, and flew across our farm, you couldn't tell her from a heron.

Laddie; a true blue story Gene Stratton-Porter 1893

They entered a homely bedchamber, garnished in a scanty way with chairs, whose spindle-shanks bespoke their age, and other furniture of very little worth; but clean and neatly kept.

Barnaby Rudge Dickens, Charles, 1812-1870 1892

His hair was fiery red, his shoulders narrow, his legs a pair of attenuated spindle-shanks; he was a chronic invalid.

Deeds that Won the Empire Historic Battle Scenes 1886

He was dressed in knickerbockers, with red stockings, which displayed his poor little spindle-shanks; he also wore a brilliant red cravat.

Daisy Miller: A Study 1879