[See SHANK sb.]
1. A nickname given to Edward I. of England on account of his long legs.
[13[?]. P. de Langtoft, Chron. (Rolls), II. 284. Lewelin … & David son frere, unt perdu manantie, Cil od le lunge jambes de tut est seisie.
1306[?]. Pol. Songs (Camden), 223. Whil him lasteth the lyf with the longe shonkes.
1556. Chron. Gr. Friars (Camden), 4. Kynge Edward the furst, that was callyd kinge Edward with the longshangkes.]
1590. Marlowe, Edw. II., III. ii. 12. Great Edward Longshanks’ issue.
1596. Dalrymple, trans. Leslie’s Hist. Scot., VI. 342. Edward King of Ingland frome his lang leggis callid Lang-schankis.
1603. Drayton, Barons’ Wars, II. xxx. 34. Great Lancaster … Canst thou thy oath to Longshancks thus forget?
a. 1661. Fuller, Worthies, Westminster (1811), II. 104. He was surnamed Longshanks, his step being another man’s stride.
2. A stilt or long-legged plover.
1817. T. Forster, Observ. Nat. Hist. Swallow, 86. Charadrius himantopus, Longlegged plover, Longshanks, or Longlegs.
1831. A. Wilson & Bonaparte, Amer. Ornith., III. 77. The name by which this bird is known on the sea coast is the stilt, or tilt, or long-shanks.
