[Of obscure origin.] Very thin or slender; lean, meager; narrow.
a. In the comb. squinny-gut(s. Also Comb.
1742. Fielding, J. Andrews, II. iii. The coachman … was asked … what passengers he had in his coach? A parcel of squinny-gut b——s (says he).
1791. Charlotte Smith, Celestina (ed. 2), I. 134. Mayn’t I talk to a handsome girl I wonder without your putting in your squinnygut opinion?
1823. E. Moor, Suffolk Words, Squinny-guts, a thin person.
1886. W. H. Long, Isle of Wight Gloss., 73. A regler squinny guts.
b. In general use.
1784. Mme. D’Arblay, Early Diary, Lett., 16 Jan. A German doctor … with a club [of hair] as thick as my two hands, and two squinney curls.
1838. [Miss Maitland], Lett. fr. Madras (1843), 175. I am very busy now, translating a story with my little squinny Moonshee.
1866. Daily Tel., 22 Feb., 5/4. The eleven thousand windows want height; they are mostly of ‘squinny’ proportions.
1871. Kingsley, At Last, iv. Those figures and faces, small, scrofulous, squinny, and haggard, which disgrace the so-called civilization of a British city.
