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.
Beckham will be genuinely missed, in part for his unstinting commitment, relentlessly hobbling about the pitch like a faithful bandy-legged horse.
From The Guardian
Fronckowiak is a bullet of a man, snub and bandy-legged as if he could easily withstand 20-foot swells on a fishing boat.
From Salon
The plump, lazy horse stood swishing his tail in the sunshine, and Acland, the deliberate, bandy-legged coachman, was in the act of placing a smart little portmanteau on the box.
From Project Gutenberg
That's so," put in a short, bandy-legged ranger whom the others had called "Joe," without troubling themselves to add any other name; "but I reckon we won't wait to be penned in.
From Project Gutenberg
"That's it," sneered Boar, "if one is honest and a plodder like Unt, bandy-legged creatures like Magh will call him stupid."
From Project Gutenberg
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.
