Also spiderleg. [SPIDER sb. 9 b.]
1. A thin, long leg like those of a spider.
Also dial. (in pl.), a spider-legged or lanky person.
1760. Sterne, Tr. Shandy, VII. i. Whilst … these two spider legs of mine … are able to support me.
1833. Nyren, Yng. Cricketer’s Tutor (1902), 107. He was … remarkably broad in the chest, with large hips and spider legs.
1859. Geo. Eliot, A. Bede, xxi. In that period of spider-legs and inlaid cupids.
1861. [Mrs. A. J. Penny], Romance Dull Life, xxi. 154. How ridiculously slim the spider-legs of the dining-room sideboard!
2. transf. A long irregular marking, crack, wrinkle, etc., resembling in shape the leg of a spider. Also attrib. in spider-leg gold.
1873. E. Spon, Workshop Rec., Ser. I. 303/1. The breaking of the gold into irregular fractures called spider-legs.
1889. Binns, Wilsden Orig., No. 1. 1 (E.D.D.). Thi forheead’s a big un, No line o’ care, No ‘student’s spider-legs,’ Can be seen there.
1898. Daily News, 28 Jan., 5/7. The nuggets there all have the ‘spider-leg’ gold adhering.
