spindle-shanked
Thin as poles
Spindle-shanked means having long, thin legs—spindly like the shaft of a spindle.
The term is mildly humorous or disparaging, evoking an image of awkward, stick-like limbs: a spindle-shanked youth who hadn't yet grown into his frame.
The related noun spindle-shanks can refer to the legs themselves or to a person who has them.
Unattractively thin and bony
- bonyThin, with protruding skeleton
- ganglyAwkwardly tall and thin
- lankyTall and ungainly thin
- spindlyThin and fragile-looking
skeletal · gaunt · wiry · knobby-kneed · angular · reedy · weedy · emaciated
scrawny
Unattractively thin and bony
spindly · skeletal · gaunt · wiry · knobby-kneed · angular · reedy · weedy · emaciated · stringy
Dickensian
Grimly poor, socially unjust
- caricatureExaggerated comic depiction
- IchabodRare biblical name
- comicalCausing laughter
ungainly · awkward · spidery · grotesque · quixotic · scarecrow · marionette · shambling · tottering · ridiculous
crane
Lifter or wader
ibis · stilt · egret · spoonbill · wading · long-legged · giraffe · gazelle · foal · colt