Also 3–7 pl. legges, (4–7 leggis, leggys), 4–5 lege, 6–7 legge. [a. ON. legg-r leg, (in compounds) leg or arm, limb (Sw. lägg, Da. læg, calf of the leg):—OTeut. type *lagjo-z.
Cf. Lombard lagi ‘coxa super genuculum’ (Ed. Roth. 384). By some scholars the word is referred to the West Aryan root *laq- of Gr. λακτίζειν to kick, L. lacertus arm.]
I. The limb.
1. One of the organs of support and locomotion in an animal body; esp. one of the two lower limbs of the human body; in narrower sense, the part of the limb between the knee and foot.
Abdominal or false leg, one of the fleshy legs that support the abdomen of some insects and that disappear in the perfect insect. Barbadoes leg: see BARBADOES. See also BLACK-LEG(S.
c. 1275. Lay., 1876. Hii soten hire legges [c. 1205 sconken].
13[?]. K. Alis., 1808. He drawith leg over othir.
c. 1340. Cursor M., 7449 (Fairf.). Goly … of body grete of leggis lange.
a. 1400–50. Alexander, 5473. Wormes As large as a mans lege.
14[?]. Lydg. & Burgh, Secrees, 2681. Smale leggys be tokne of symple konnyng.
1530. Palsgr., 238/2. Legge fro the kne to the fote.
1588. Shaks., Tit. A., IV. ii. 102. All the water in the Ocean, Can neuer turne the Swans blacke legs to white.
1667. Milton, P. L., X. 512. His Leggs entwining Each other … down he fell, A monstrous Serpent.
1837. Dickens, Pickw., xix. ‘What’s the matter with the dogs’ legs?’ whispered Mr. Winkle.
1864. Tennyson, Grandmother, iii. ‘Here’s a leg for a babe of a week!’ says doctor.
1896. Newton, Dict. Birds, s.v. Stork, Its contrasted plumage … with its bright red bill and legs, makes it a conspicuous and beautiful object.
Proverb. phrase (vulgar). 1662. Wilson, Cheats, II. iv. (1664), 26. All’s well, and as right as my Leg.
1719. D’Urfey, Pills, IV. 141. This Lady is as right as my Leg.
b. esp. with reference to the use of the legs in standing, walking, running, etc.
1382. Wyclif, Ps. cxlvii. 10. He shal not han wil in the strengthe of hors; ne in the leggis of a man shall be wel plesid to hym.
1555. J. Proctor, Wyat’s Rebell., 14 b. He … ranne away no faster than his legges could carye hym.
1596. Shaks., Merch. V., II. ii. 6. Vse your legs, take the start, run awaie.
1638. Brome, Antipodes, I. vi. Wks. 1873, III. 248. Mandevile went farre. Beyond all English legges that I can read of.
1749. Fielding, Tom Jones, VII. vii. I thank Heaven my legs are very able to carry me.
1839. Sir C. Napier, in Bruce, Life, iv. (1885), 132. Gashes that would frighten a thousand of their companions into the vigorous use of their legs.
1867. Baker, Nile Tribut., xi. 287. He would rather trust to his legs.
transf. and fig. 1590. Pasquil’s Apol., I. C iv b. He perceiueth not…, that I haue his leg in a string still.
1597. J. Payne, Royal Exch., 15. Buyenge and sellinge is one of the leggs whervpon euery common welthe dothe stand.
1635. Quarles, Embl., IV. iii. 193. The sprightly voice of sinew-strengthning Pleasure Can lend my bedrid soule both legs and leisure.
1652. Collinges, Caveat for Prof., xviii. (1653), 77. Mr. Fisher … saves himselfe upon the legs of his old distinction.
a. 1700. Dryden, Ovid’s Met., VIII. Baucis & Philemon, 148. They haste, and what their tardy Feet deny’d, The trusty Staff (their better Leg) supply’d.
1780. Cowper, Progr. Err., 561. One leg by truth supported, one by lies, They sidle to the goal.
2. Phrases. a. General references. All legs and wings, said of an overgrown awkward young person; also Naut., of an overmasted vessel. On the leg, (of a dog) long in the leg, leggy. The boot is on the other leg (see BOOT sb.3 1 b). To pull (or draw Sc.) a person’s leg, to impose upon, ‘get at,’ befool him (colloq.). † To fight at the leg (see quot. 1785). To give a person a leg up, to help him to climb up or get over an obstacle, mount (a horse, etc.); hence fig., to help over a difficulty. To have a bone in one’s leg (see BONE sb. 9). To have one’s leg over the harrows, to be out of control. To lift, lift up (or heave up) the leg: said of a dog voiding urine.
1591. Shaks., Two Gent., IV. iv. 41. When did’st thou see me heaue vp my leg, and make water against a Gentlewomans farthingale.
1602. 2nd Pt. Return fr. Parnass., IV. ii. 1659. Nor any bold presumptuous curr shall dare To lifte his legge against his sacred dust.
1785. Grose, Dict. Vulgar T., s.v. Leg, To fight at the leg, to take unfair advantages, it being held unfair by back sword players to strike at the leg.
1816. Scott, Old Mort., viii. ‘She has her leg ower the harrows now,’ said Cuddie, ‘stop her wha can.’
1837. Dickens, Pickw., xvi. The wall is very low, sir, and your servant will give you a leg up.
1837. Marryat, Dog-fiend, x. [He] came shambling, all legs and wings, up the hatchway.
1867. Anderson, Rhymes, 17 (E.D.D.). He preached, an’ at last drew the auld body’s leg, Sae the kirk got the gatherins o’ our Aunty Meg.
1867. Smyth, Sailor’s Word-bk., Legs and wings: see Overmasted.
1888. Churchward, Blackbirding, 216. Then I shall be able to pull the leg of that chap Mike. He is always trying to do me.
1890. W. E. Norris, Misadventure, iv. She was now devoting all her energies to giving them a leg up.
1893. Kennel Gaz., Aug., 213/3. A little dog … with … good carriage of stern, but a trifle ‘on the leg’ and out of coat. Ibid., 215/2.
1899. Pall Mall Mag., April, 474. ‘She wouldn’t marry you?’ ‘My dear fellow, the boot was on the other leg. I wouldn’t marry her.’
b. With reference to walking or running. To change leg, (of a horse) to change step. To have the legs of, to travel faster than, to outrun. To put (or set) one’s best leg foremost, to go at one’s best pace; to exert oneself to the utmost. To shake a leg, to dance. To shake a loose (or free) leg, to lead an irregular life, live freely. To stretch one’s legs, † (a) to increase one’s stride, walk fast (obs.); (b) to exercise the legs by walking. To take to (or betake oneself to) one’s legs, to run, run away; so to take leg (lit. and fig.), give legs.
1530. Palsgr., 749/1. I take me to my legges, I flye a waye, je me mets en fuyte.
1579. Tomson, Calvin’s Serm. Tim., 17/2. They … set the better legge before.
1592. Shaks., Rom. & Jul., I. iv. 34. Come knocke and enter, and no sooner in, But euery man betake him to his legs.
1653. Walton, Angler, i. 1. I have stretch’d my legs up Tottenham Hil to overtake you.
1790. J. Fisher, Poems, 83. When ance her chastity took leg.
1834. Ainsworth, Rookwood, III. ix. (1878), 233. While luck lasts, the highwayman shakes a loose leg!
1844. W. H. Maxwell, Sports & Adv. Scotl., xii. (1855), 116. We have landed to … ‘stretch our legs.’
1856. Mayhew, Gt. World Lond., 87. Those who love to ‘shake a free leg,’ and lead a roving life, as they term it.
1857. G. A. Lawrence, Guy Livingstone, ix. He [the horse] is in a white lather of foam, and changes his leg twice as he approaches.
1861. Hughes, Tom Brown at Oxf., xli. The beggar had the legs of me.
1881. Besant & Rice, Ten Yrs.’ Tenant, v. It would be positively indecent for a man at a hundred to shake a leg as merrily as a man at thirty.
1882. Besant, All Sorts & Cond., xviii. I explain that the stage is ready for them, if they like to act;… or the dancing-room, should they wish to shake a leg.
1883. Daily News, 15 May, 7/2. The best way is to make a snatch and give legs for it, it’s better than loitering.
1886. Hobart, Sk. Life, 135. I knew we had the legs of her [a gun-boat].
c. On one’s legs: (a) in a standing attitude; said esp. of a parliamentary or other public speaker; so jocularly on one’s hind legs; (b) well enough to go about; ‘on one’s feet’; (c) fig. in a prosperous condition, established, esp. in to set (a person) upon his legs; also transf. of things. To fall on one’s legs: to be lucky or successful. To get on one’s hind legs: lit. of a horse, hence jocularly of a person, to go into a rage. To stand (or † come) upon one’s own legs: to be self-reliant. Not a leg to stand on: no support whatever.
1624. Sanderson, Serm., I. 251. A pound, that would … put him into fresh trading, set him upon his legs, and make him a man for ever.
a. 1628. Preston, Effectual Faith (1631), 54. Then a man cometh upon his own legs.
1666. Pepys, Diary, 7 Jan. I do fear those two families … are quite broken, and I must now stand upon my own legs.
1697. Collier, Immor. Stage (1730), Pref. Throwing in a Word or two; to … keep the English upon its Legs.
1760–72. H. Brooke, Fool of Qual. (1809), III. 117. I engage in a few weeks to set you once more upon your legs.
1771. Smollett, Humph. Cl., 17 April. I … might have been upon my legs by this time, had the weather permitted me to use my saddle-horse.
1792. Anecd. W. Pitt (1797), I. xii. 249. Mr. Pitt, upon his legs, in the House of Commons, charged [etc.].
1799. Med. Jrnl., I. 22. He was obliged to be on his legs the whole day.
1801. G. Rose, Diaries (1860), I. 321. We found Mr. Sheridan on his legs, moving the adjournment.
1818. Cobbett, Pol. Reg., XXXIII. 9. A thing totally destitute of talent could never expect long to stand upon its own legs.
1841. Lytton, Nt. & Morn., II. iii. II. 121. A man who has plenty of brains generally falls on his legs.
1884. Sat. Rev., 7 June, 731/1. That English credit is not good enough to set Egypt … on her legs again.
1889. Mivart, Truth, 131. The latter hypothesis … has not a leg to stand on.
1897. Daily News, 15 Oct., 7/4. Mr. S. was on his hind legs arguing with … force.
1897. W. E. Norris, Marietta’s Marr., xxx. 217. ‘Don’t get on your hind legs,’ returned Betty composedly.
d. One’s last legs, the end of one’s life; fig. the end of one’s resources; said also of things; chiefly on or upon one’s last legs.
1599. Massinger, etc. Old Law, V. i. Eugenia. My husband goes upon his last hour now. 1st Courtier. On his last legs, I am sure.
1668. Dryden, Evening’s Love, II. i. Wks. 1883, III. 287. He had brought me to my last legs.
1764. Foote, Mayor of G., II. Wks. 1799, I. 184. You was pretty near your last legs.
1846. De Quincey, Syst. Heavens, Wks. (1854), III. 174. If the Earth were on her last legs.
1857. A. Trollope, Barchester T., i. The bishop was quite on his last legs; but the ministry also were tottering.
e. To dance (run, walk, etc.) a person off his legs: to cause (him) to dance, etc., to exhaustion.
1663. Butler, Hud., I. iii. 326. Purging Comfits and Ants Eggs, Had almost brought him off his legs.
1668. Pepys, Diary, 25 Nov. These people … will run themselves off of their legs.
1736. Ainsworth, Lat. Dict., II. s.v. Hag, I am hagged off my legs.
1890. ‘R. Boldrewood,’ Col. Reformer (1891), 159. Girls, who will dance him off his legs, unless he’s very fit indeed.
1894. Fenn, In Alpine Valley, I. 205. Soon walk him off his legs.
f. Put for ‘the power of using the legs,’ as in to feel (FEEL v. 6 d), find one’s legs. To keep one’s legs, to remain standing or walking. Sea-legs: see SEA.
1593. Shaks., 2 Hen. VI., II. i. 147. We must haue you finde your Legges. Sirrha Beadle, whippe him till he leape ouer that same Stoole.
1706. [E. Ward], Wooden World Dissected (1708), 5. They … walk firm, where all other Creatures tumble; and seldom can keep their Legs long, when they get upon Terra firma.
1855. Macaulay, Hist. Eng., xii. III. 233. The fighting men … were so much exhausted that they could scarcely keep their legs.
1858. Mrs. Carlyle, Lett., II. 345. Carried most of the way, not able to keep his legs.
g. In high leg: in high spirits, exalted.
1808. Syd. Smith, Lett. to Lady Holland, 8 Oct. Mem. (1855), II. 38. The Mufti in high leg about the Spaniards.
3. The leg cut from the carcass of an animal or bird for use as food.
1533. Elyot, Cast. Helthe, II. i. (1541), 16 b. Biefe is better digested than a chykens legge.
1599. H. Buttes, Dyets drie Dinner, A a. A breast or legge of Mutton.
a. 1625. Beaum. & Fl., Bonduca, II. iii. What say you to a leg of Beef now, sirha?
1722. De Foe, Col. Jack (1840), 118. Then came up a leg of mutton.
1875. A. Wood, Havard’s Dead Cities Zuyder Zee, 75. The butcheress … still had a leg of veal.
b. Leg-of-mutton adj. phr., resembling a leg of mutton, esp. in shape. Leg-of-mutton sail, a kind of triangular sail (also called shoulder-of-mutton sail); so leg-of-mutton rig. Leg-of-mutton sleeve, one very full and loose on the arm but close-fitting at the wrist; a gigot-sleeve.
1840. P. Parley’s Ann., I. 218. Mrs. Button had dressed herself in leg-of-mutton sleeves [etc.].
1883. E. E. Hale, in Harper’s Mag., Dec., 145/2. I had rigged her with a leg-of-mutton sail.
1884. Girl’s Own Mag., 29 March, 410/1. The old-fashioned ‘gigot,’ or leg-of-mutton sleeve.
1885. F. Gordon, Pyotshaw, 26. He brandished his leg-of-mutton fist uncomfortably near the said red nose.
1894. Outing (U. S.), May, 148/1. The leg-of-mutton rig … is the simplest.
4. An obeisance made by drawing back one leg and bending the other; a bow, scrape. Also in phrase to make (rarely cast away, scrape) a leg. Now arch. or jocular.
1589. Tri. Love & Fortune, V. (Roxb. Club), 141. Hang rascall, make a leg to me.
1596. Nashe, Saffron Walden (Grosart), III. 146. Whither … haue you brought mee? To Newgate, good Master Doctour, with a lowe leg they made answer.
1599. Hakluyt, Voy., II. I. 152. I turned me to the Basha, and made a long legge, saying, Grand mercie Signior.
1602. 2nd Pt. Return fr. Parnass., III. ii. 1212. His hungry sire will scrape you twenty legges, For one good Christmas meale.
1606. Sir G. Goosecappe, IV. i. in Bullen, O. Pl. III. 64. To shew my Courtship In the three quarter legge, and setled looke.
1609. Dekker, Gvlls Horne-bk., 64. A Jew never bends in the hams with casting away a leg.
1629. P. Smart, Holy Commun. Durham Cath., 14. To teach the Coristers going up to the Altar to make legs to God.
a. 1654. Selden, Table-T. (Arb.), 85. ’Tis good to learn to dance, a man may learn his Leg, learn to go handsomly.
1725. De Foe, Voy. round World (1840), 97. The governor … gave them the compliment of his hat and leg.
1839. Longf., Hyperion, I. vii. He is one that cannot make a good leg.
1857. Trollope, Barchester T., xxiii. Each made a leg in the approved rural fashion.
fig. 1858. Sat. Rev., 31 July, 98. The India Bill came simpering on … and made its little leg to an applauding public.
5. slang. Short for BLACKLEG 2.
1815. Sporting Mag., XLV. 39. The Goose that laid the Golden Egg should be a lesson to the legs on the turf.
1837. Dickens, Pickw., xlii. He was a horse chaunter: he’s a leg now.
1884. H. Smart, From Post to Finish, xxiii. 172. The world regards me as a compound of leg and money-lender.
6. Cricket. a. Leg before wicket: the act of stopping with the leg, or other part of the person, a straight-pitched ball, which would otherwise have hit the wicket (a fault in play for which the batsman may be given ‘out’). Also, simply, leg before. Abbreviated l.b.w.
[1774. Laws Cricket, in Lillywhite, Cricket Scores (1862), I. 17. Or if a striker puts his leg before the wicket with a design to stop the ball, and actually prevent the ball from hitting his wicket by it [he is out].]
[1795: cf. l.b.w. under L (the letter) 7.]
1850. ‘Bat,’ Cricket Man., 47. The hitter is given out as … ‘leg before wicket.’
1862. Lillywhite, Cricket Scores, I. 191. In this match [in 1795], ‘leg before wicket’ is found scored for the first time.
1882. Daily Tel., 20 May, 2/7. Blackham was out leg before to Lillywhite.
b. (Also the leg.) (a) That part of the ‘on’ side of the field that lies behind, or about in a line with, the batsman. Chiefly in (a hit) to (the) leg. (b) The side of the pitch on which the batsman stands.
(a) 1843. ‘A Wykhamist,’ Pract. Hints Cricket, Frontisp. The ‘long on’ … is for the most part done away with, and placed either … between the slip and cover-point, or to the ‘leg.’ Ibid., 17. The hitting to the leg is by far the most effective.
1857. Hughes, Tom Brown, II. viii. A beautifully pitched ball for the outer stump, which the … unfeeling Jack … hits right round to leg for five.
1866. Le Fanu, All in Dark, I. viii. 66. William, whose hit to leg was famous.
attrib. 1882. Daily Tel., 24 June, 2/7. The South Australian got his first ball to the leg boundary.
(b) 1843. ‘A Wykhamist,’ Pract. Hints Cricket, 17. As soon as ever the ball is pitched to the leg.
1851. Pycroft, Cricket Field, ix. 181. So a cricket ball, with lateral spin, will work from Leg to Off, or Off to Leg, according to the spin.
1859. All Year Round, No. 13. 306. The first ball they bowled me was slow, overpitched, and to leg.
1888. Cricket (Badm. Libr.), vii. 282. Farmer Miles … bowled under-arm … his balls curling in from the leg.
c. Hence, the position of a fieldsman placed to stop balls hit ‘to leg’ (see above); also, the fieldsman so placed. Long, short, square leg, the fieldsman, or his position, at a long or short distance from the wicket or about square with it.
1816. in Box, Eng. Game Cricket (1877), 34. Leg, the person who takes this place should stand a little back from the straight line of the popping crease.
1850. ‘Bat,’ Cricket Man., 44. Long Leg must be occupied by a good thrower.
1857. Chambers’ Inform., II. 688/2. Leg should stand rather behind the striker, in a diagonal line, about twelve or sixteen yards from the wicket.
1877. Box, Eng. Game Cricket, Gloss., Short Leg, the fielder stationed within a few yards of the wicket behind the batsman. Square Leg, this fielder stands nearly square with the batsman.
1880. Times, 28 Sept., 11/5. The men were placed thus:—Mr. Jarvis, wicket-keeper;… Bannerman, leg [etc.]. Ibid. (1894), 23 May, 7/3. He was taken at short-leg for a careful 68.
II. Something more or less resembling a leg, or performing its function as a support for a ‘body.’
7. A representation or figure of a leg; esp. in Her.
c. 1500. Sc Poem Heraldry, in Q. Eliz. Acad., 100. Thire be also raschit, as lege or heid.
1725. Coats, New Dict. Her., Legs are born in Coat-Armour, either naked, or shod, or booted.
1797. Encycl. Brit. (ed. 3), VIII. 457/2. ‘Gules, three Legs armed proper, conjoined in the Fess-point.’… This is the coat of arms of the Isle of Man…. ‘Or, three Legs couped above the knee Sable’; borne by the name of Hosy.
† b. Sc. Short for leg-dollar. Obs.
1687. [see leg-dollar in 17].
8. An artificial leg. Also cork leg, wooden leg: see the adjs.
1426. Lydg., De Guil. Pilgr., 23199. I made me a leg of tre.
9. (See quot.)
1727. Boyer, Eng.-Fr. Dict., s.v. Leg, A Leg of Wood to put in a Stocking, forme, pour enformer les Bas.
10. That part of a garment which covers the leg.
1580. Stanford Churchw. Acc., in Antiquary, XVII. 171/2. It. for a payre of boote Leggs to mende bawdrycks, viijd.
1861. Dickens, Gt. Expect., ii. To put my hunk of bread-and-butter down the leg of my trousers.
11. A bar, pole, or the like, used as a support or prop; esp. in Shipbuilding and Mining.
1497. Naval Acc. Hen. VII. (1896), 324. Carpenters whuch made the seid ledders and legges of tymbre.
1699. Dampier, Voy., II. I. 73. One end of the Carriage is supported with two Legs, or a Fork of three Foot high.
1712. J. James, trans. Le Blond’s Gardening, 81. ’Tis set upon the Ground by means of three Legs or Staves … put into as many Sockets below the Ball…. The lesser sort … require but one Leg.
1883. Gresley, Gloss. Coal-mining, Leg. 1. S[cotland]. A wooden prop supporting one end of a bar. 2. Y[orkshire]. A stone which has to be wedged out from beneath a larger one.
1886. R. C. Leslie, Sea-painter’s Log, iv. 68. The yacht is likely to fall over, and, breaking her leg under her, receive serious damage.
b. One of the poles or masts of a sheers.
1896. Law Times Rep., LXXIII. 634/2. The engine then brought the other waggon under the shear legs to have it unloaded.
1898. Daily News, 30 June, 4/5. A pair of steel legs eighty-seven feet in height, which had a lifting power of 75 tons.
12. One of the comparatively long and slender supports of a piece of furniture or the like.
1680. Moxon, Mech. Exerc., 177. The Legs and Cheeks are to be fastned with Braces to the Floor … of the Room the Lathe stands in.
1784. Cowper, Task, I. 19. Joint-stools were then created; on three legs Upborne they stood.
1837. Dickens, Pickw., xliv. I was always used to a four-poster afore I came here, and I find the legs of the table answer just as well. Ibid., xlvii. Mr. Pickwick grated the legs of his chair against the ground.
1852. Mrs. Carlyle, Lett., II. 175. Tables with their legs in the air.
13. A beam upon which tanners dress skins.
1727–41. Chambers, Cycl., s.v. Shammy, They [skins] are … laid on a wooden leg or horse.
14. One of the branches of a forked, jointed or curved object.
1683. Moxon, Mech. Exerc., Printing, xiii. ¶ 4. The Legs of a Carpenter’s Joynt-Rule.
1726. trans. Gregory’s Astron., I. 490. Imagine a Canal fill’d with a Fluid, and bent,… the Fluid in the Leg of the Canal AC is in equilibrio with the Fluid in the Leg PC.
1727–41. Chambers, Cycl., Compasses of three legs.
1801. T. Jefferson, Writ. (ed. Ford), VII. 482. A rainbow, therefore,… plunges one of it’s legs down to the river.
1828. J. H. Moore, Pract. Navig. (ed. 20), 18. The Sector. This instrument consists of two legs or rulers, representing the radii of a circle.
1866. Croquet, 10. A ball is Wired when it cannot effect the stroke desired on account of the leg of a hoop (wire) intervening.
1893. Sloane, Electr. Dict., Leg of circuit, one lead or side of a complete metallic circuit.
b. One of the sides of a triangle, viewed as standing upon a base (so Gr. σκέλος); one of the two parts on each side of the vertex of a curve. Hyperbolic, parabolic leg (see quot. 1727–41).
1659. Moxon, Globes, VI. i. (1674), 184. The Legs of a Right Angled Spherical Triangle.
1702. Ralphson, Math. Dict., Isosceles Triangle is a Triangle that has two equal Legs.
1727–41. Chambers, Cycl., s.v. Curve, Lastly, the legs of curves … are either of the parabolic or hyperbolic kind: an hyperbolic leg, being that which approaches infinitely towards some asymptote; a parabolic, that which has no asymptote.
c. Gold-mining. One of the two nearly vertical lateral prolongations of the saddle of a quartz-reef.
1890. Melbourne Argus, 16 June, 6/1. In payable saddle formations a slide intersects the reef above the saddle coming from the west, and turning east with a wall of the east leg, where the leg of reef is observed to go down deeper.
15. Naut. a. A name applied to various short ropes (see quot. 1794). Leg along (see quot. 1867).
1627. Capt. Smith, Seaman’s Gram., v. 24. Legs are small ropes put thorow the bolt ropes of the maine and fore saile, neere to a foot in length, spliced each end into the other in the leech of the saile, hauing a little eye whereunto the martnets are fastened by two hitches.
1711. W. Sutherland, Shipbuild. Assist., 143. Cat-harping Legs.
1794. Rigging & Seamanship, I. 169. Legs, short ropes which branch out into two or more parts, as the bowline-legs or bridles, buntline-legs, crowfoot-legs, &c.
1860. Merc. Marine Mag., VII. 113. The two meet and fall to deck in one leg.
1867. Smyth, Sailor’s Word-bk., Leg along, ropes laid on end, ready for manning.
b. A run made on a single tack. Chiefly in long, short leg. A good leg, ‘a course sailed on a tack which is near the desired course’ (Webster, 1897).
1867. in Smyth, Sailor’s Word-bk.
1892. H. Hutchinson, Fairway Island, 20. I’ll fetch down on a long leg, and catch the ‘Pengelley’ on a single tack.
1895. Daily News, 8 July, 8/6. Valkyrie … preferred a series of short legs off Wemyss Bay to weather the Skelmorlie.
III. 18. attrib. and Comb. Simple attrib., as leg bath; objective and obj. gen., as leg-maker, -tripping; locative, as leg-tired, -weary adjs. (so leg-weariness); also leg-like adj.
1869. Claridge, Cold Water-cure, 56. *Leg Bath. The thighs and legs … ought to be put into a bath.
1897. T. R. R. Stebbing, in 19th Cent., Aug., 297. Others unmistakably *leg-like.
14[?]. Nom., in Wr.-Wülcker, 686/29. Hic tibiarius, *legmaker.
1737. Bracken, Farriery Impr. (1757), II. 149. If he … change his Feet, it denotes he is *Leg-tired.
1871. B. Taylor, Faust (1875), II. III. 211. He overcame In *leg-tripping.
1880. W. Day, Racehorse, xix. 183. Horses often pull up lame from *leg-weariness.
1755. Shebbeare, Lydia (1769), I. 243. The exciseman began to be *leg-weary.
1890. ‘R. Boldrewood,’ Col. Reformer (1891), 319. The slow, hopeless, leg-weary jog.
17. Special combinations: leg-bird, a dial. name for the Sedge Warbler; leg-bone, the shin-bone, tibia; leg-boot, a boot for a horse, covering the leg between the knee and hoof; leg-business slang, ballet-dancing; leg-dollar (see quot. 1687); leg-foot, the foot of a post or the like; leg-guard, a protection for the leg; in Cricket, a covering for the knee, shin and ankle, worn by the batsmen and wicket-keeper as a protection against injury from the ball; leg-ill, a disease of sheep, causing lameness; leg-iron, a shackle or fetter for the leg (whence leg-ironed adj.); leg-lock = prec.; † leg money (see quot.); leg-muff, ‘one of the fleecy or downy puffs or tufts about the feet of many humming-birds’ (Cent. Dict.); leg-pad Cricket = leg-guard; † leg payment (see quot. and cf. LEG-BAIL); leg piece, † (a) in pl., greaves; (b) Theatrical slang (= F. pièce aux jambes), a play in which ‘leg-business’ is prominent; leg-rest, a contrivance for supporting the leg of an invalid when seated; leg-rope v. (Austral.), to catch an animal by the leg with a noosed rope; † leg-saw (meaning obscure); leg-shield, a shield to protect the leg from being crushed against the barrier in jousting; leg-splint, a plate of armor to protect the leg; leg-wood dial., large branches cut from trees (also attrib.); leg-worm, the GUINEA WORM (q.v.), which attacks the legs. Also LEG-HARNESS.
1848. Zoologist, VI. 2290. The sedge warbler, a *‘leg bird.’
1885. in Swainson, Prov. Names Birds.
1615. Crooke, Body of Man, 1003. The whirle and the *Leg-bone are ioyned by adarticulation.
1871. Mrs. Annie Edwardes, Ought we to visit her? III. i. 11. She was … in the *‘Leg Business,’ your Grace.
1670. Proclam., in Cochran-Patrick, Coinage Scot. (1876), II. 158. These dollors commonly called *leg dollors.
1687. A. Hale, in J. Russell, Haigs, xi. (1881), 331. To Daick,… a rex-dollar and halfe a legg, which is £04 . 06 . 0. [Note, A rix-dollar was worth £2 18s. Scots, or 4s. 10d. sterling; a leg-dollar £2 16s., or 4s. 8d. sterling. The latter coin was so-called from having on it the impression of a man in armour with one leg, the other being covered by a shield containing a coat of arms.] Ibid., 332. A *legg-dollar for parchment and drink-money.
1893. Stevenson, Catriona, iii. 29. Old daft limmers sit at a leg-foot [of a gibbet] and spae their fortunes.
1849. ‘Bat,’ Cricket Man., Advt., Gauntlets, *Leg Guards [etc.].
1807. Ess. Highl. Soc., III. 431. *Leg ill.
1861. Dickens, Gt. Expect., xvi. A convict’s *leg-iron which had been filed asunder.
1884. E. Yates, Recoll., I. iii. 115. Convicts … handcuffed and *leg-ironed.
1860. Mrs. P. Byrne, Undercurrents Overlooked, II. 218. Manacles and chains, whips and *leg-locks.
1812. Examiner, 7 Sept., 575/1. If not able to pay *leg money, or a fee for knocking off the irons [at Newgate].
1850. ‘Bat,’ Cricket Man., 51. *Leg-pads.
1611. Cotgr., Payer en gambades, to make *leg-paiments, to runne away in debt.
1676. Hobbes, Iliad (1677), 151. His *leg-pieces he down to th’ anckles ti’d, With silver buckles *leg-pieces of brass.
1860. Geo. Eliot, Mill on Fl., III. 8. Tom advanced before him, carrying the *leg-rest.
1889. ‘R. Boldrewood,’ Robbery under Arms (1890), 7. We could milk, *leg-rope, and bail up for ourselves.
1662. Stat. Irel. (1765), II. 464. *Leg-saws the piece 6s. 8d.
1860. Hewitt, Anc. Arm., III. 390. The *leg-shield of the saddle is found in woodcut No. 49.
1828–40. Tytler, Hist. Scot. (1864), II. 78. Breastplate, greaves, and *leg-splints.
1872. T. Hardy, Greenw. T., I. iii. (1876), 22. We shall have a rare *leg-wood fire directly.
1898. Oxford Chron., 22 Jan., 1. A large number of Faggots and Legwood.
1699. Dampier, Voy., II. II. 79. Two hairy Worms growing in the Authors Leg. Dangerous *Leg-worms in the West Indies.
1857. trans. Küchenmeister’s Man. Parasites Hum. Body, I. 398. Amongst the Germans it is known as … the skin-worm,… leg-worm,… and Pharaoh’s worm.
b. in Cricket: leg bail, stump, that nearest the batsman; leg ball, break, a ball that pitches on or breaks from the leg side; leg-bye (see BYE 1); leg hit, stroke, a hit to leg (hence leg-hitter, -hitting sbs.).
1882. Daily Tel., 27 May, 3/7. The new-comer … immediately afterwards had his *leg-bail removed.
1830. Miss Mitford, Village, Ser. IV. 29. He missed a *leg ball of Ned Smith’s.
1836. in ‘Bat,’ Cricket Man. (1850), 100. Pilch … wrote down three with a *leg hit.
1843. ‘A Wykhamist,’ Pract. Hints Cricket, 17. He will soon become an effective *leg-hitter. Ibid. On *leg-hitting.
1833. C. C. Clarke, Nyren’s Cricketer’s Guide (1888), 23. A ball … pitched on the inside of the *leg stump.
