a. Obs. exc. north. dial. Forms: 1 liðe-, leoðuwác, 4 leothewok, 5 lith-, lythewayke, 6 leath(i)e we(a)ke, lyeth-waike, leithweik, 7 leeth-, lieth-, 9 dial. leathwake. [OE. liðewác, leoðuwác, f. lið, leoðu limb, LITH sb. + wác soft, pliant: see WEAK a.] Having the joints flexible; hence gen. pliant, soft.
c. 1000. Endowments Men, 84, in Exeter Bk., 298. Sum bið … for gum-þeʓnum leoht and leoþu-wac.
c. 1330. Rel. Ant., II. 229. Ther oure body is leothe-wok, ȝyf strengthe vrom above.
1483. Cath. Angl., 218/2. Lithwayke, flexibilis.
1545. Ascham, Toxoph. (Arb.), 129. A fedder is fit for a shafte … bycause it is leathe weake to giue place to the bowe. Ibid., 139. Waxe taketh printe whan it is warme and leathie weke.
1593. Anc. Monum. Rites Durham (Surtees), 55. He [St. Cuthbert] was taken out of the ground … lying like to a man sleping, being found saife and uncorrupted and lyeth-waike.
1674. Ray, N. C. Words, 30. Leethwake, limber, pliable.
1788. W. Marshall, Yorksh., II. 339. Leathwake, lithe, weak, flexible, limber, feeble; as a hair, a thread, an ozier twig, or an angling rod.
1828. Carr, Craven Dial., Leathe-wake, supple in the joints.
Hence † Leathwakeness.
1548. R. Hutten, Sum of Divinity, S i a. [Attributes of a glorified body] Leithweiknes & quicknes or redines.
