Skip to main content
bandy-legged

bandy-legged

1 8.6
Legs that curve outward at the knees and look like a bow
  • adjective
  • /ˈbændiˌlɛɡɪd/
  • Archaic
translation icon : arqueado
  • The bandy-legged briefer, Captain Cyrus Cirrus, did not tell C.R. what he wanted to hear.
  • a bandy-legged man

Examples

  • The bandy-legged athlete surprised everyone by winning the competition despite his appearance.

  • Old Abe staggered through the mud, bandy-legged from a decade's habit of staying upright while drunk.

    Fiction book (1990)
  • The speaker was bandy-legged, stocky, with grizzled hair falling in ringlets around his pointed ears.

    Fiction book (1995)
  • A touch over four feet tall, barrel-chested and bandy-legged, he had the thick, clammy skin of a swamp dweller, and slightly bulbous, friendly black eyes.

    Fiction book (1992)
  • Apart from this deformity, she is bandy-legged, and throughout childhood, she is marked by startling "maigreurs" (1: 134).

    Academic text (1992)
  • Yama jumped up—a springy man, muscular, bandy-legged.

    Fiction book (2000)
  • Short, hunched, bandy-legged, mostly toothless but still a smiler, he grabs Phoebe hard from behind, pulls her back into his chest, pointing with his penlight up into the cavern.

    Fiction book (2000)
  • The bandy-legged child struggled to keep up with her friends during the race.

  • After years of riding horses, he had become noticeably bandy-legged.

Synonyms

bowlegged
vsbandy-legged
3 6.8

Having legs that curve outward at the knees so the knees are apart when the feet are together

is used to describe the same outward-legged appearance rather than the person
bandy
vsbandy-legged
  • Archaic
3 8.1

Having legs that curve outward at the knees when standing

is the broader phrase used to describe the same appearance in a person
bow-legged
vsbandy-legged
2 6.6

Legs that curve outward at the knees and leave a space between them when the feet are together

is the term that emphasizes the overall bow appearance rather than leg detail

Antonyms

Having legs that are straight, not bent or curved

How Bowed

bandy-legged
  • Archaic
1 8.6
bowed
5.3
straight
442 1.0

Surface Forms

bandy-legged positive

Morphology

bandy-legged = bandy + leg (transparent) = bandy + leg + ed

The adjective is transparently formed from 'bandy' + 'leg' + the adjectival suffix '-ed', so knowing 'bandy' and 'leg' gives the meaning.

Etymology

Bandy-legged comes from an old word meaning 'bent' and is tied to the simple English word bend. So bandy-legged describes legs that bend or curve outward, like a bow, which explains its modern meaning.