bandy-legged
Americanadjective
Usage
What does bandy-legged mean? Bandy-legged is used to describe someone with bandy legs—a condition in which the legs curve outward, causing the knees to point outward.The term bowlegged (or bow-legged) means the same thing and is more common.The condition known as bandy legs can also be called bowleg or bow legs (in which the word bow is a reference to the type of curve seen in a bow—the kind used to shoot arrows). The adjective bandy means the same thing as bowed—having a bend or crook outward.Many young children appear to be bandy-legged, but in most cases their legs straighten as they continue to grow. However, in some cases, abnormal bowing of the legs may be caused by diseases like rickets or Blount’s disease.Bandy-leggedness is associated with cowboys, probably due to the idea that the condition can be the result of spending too much time straddling a saddle. However, frequent horseback riding is unlikely to cause bandy legs.Example: I was bandy-legged as a kid, but my legs straightened out by the time I was four or so.
Etymology
Origin of bandy-legged
First recorded in 1680–90
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
He was a broad, bandy-legged little man with a walrus mustache, with square hands, puffed and muscled on the palms.
From Literature
The squat, bandy-legged man with long, straggly, ginger hair jumped and dropped an ancient suitcase, which burst open, releasing what looked like the entire contents of a junk shop window.
From Literature
They had only gone a few paces when Hermione’s bandy-legged ginger cat, Crookshanks, came pelting out of the garden, bottlebrush tail held high in the air, chasing what looked like a muddy potato on legs.
From Literature
The Headmaster, while I was at Repton, struck me as being a rather shoddy bandy-legged little fellow with a big bald head and lots of energy but not much charm.
From Literature
Sometimes it seemed like the truth was a bandy-legged soul who dashed from one side of the world to the other and I could never find him.
From Literature
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
