a. [f. LANK a. + -Y1.] Awkwardly or ungracefully lean and long. † Also (of hair) somewhat lank (obs.).
1670. Lond. Gaz., No. 437/4. He is of a tall Stature, with fair lanky hair.
1818. Todd, Lanky adj., a vulgar expression to denote a tall thin person.
1833. Ht. Martineau, Cinnamon & Pearls, v. 82. Their worn and lanky frames.
18478. H. Miller, First Impr., i. (1861), 3. A tall lanky Northumbrian.
1860. All Year Round, No. 72. 509. I pass by many a church, with their tall hulking fronts and lanky pillars.
1861. W. H. Russell, in Times, 12 July, 12/3. The overseer, a sharp-looking Creole, on a lanky pony, whip in hand, superintended their [the mules] labours.
1874. Burnand, My Time, ii. 21. The lanky Charles did something with a chorus to it.
1892. Baring-Gould, Strange Survivals, v. 112. The spiral coil would prevent the lanky rushlight from falling over and out of the lamp.
b. Comb., as lanky-eared, -limbed adjs.
1815. W. H. Ireland, Scribbleomania, 82. The station of groom to a lanky-eard Neddy.
1896. Mary Beaumont, Joan Seaton, 171. A schoolboy, bright-eyed and lanky-limbed.