duck-legged

American

[duhk-leg-id, -legd] / ˈdʌkˌlɛg ɪd, -ˌlɛgd /

adjective

having legs that are unusually short.

He crept up in a half-crouch that made him look duck-legged.

Etymology

Origin of duck-legged

First recorded in 1640–50

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.

These were an excessively duck-legged animal, with well-formed bodies, full chest, broad backs, yielding a close heavy fleece of medium quality of wool.

From Project Gutenberg

"That's just because you're a duck-legged snipe," answered Gid wrathfully.

From Project Gutenberg

Think of a stoutish, stooping, duck-legged man, with a mountainous back, strongly suggestive of a bag of grist under his shirt, and you have him.

From Project Gutenberg

We may picture him as a humid duck-legged little man, most terribly homesick, most tremendously lonely, most distressingly alien.

From Project Gutenberg

Oh, see the little duck-legged things!

From Project Gutenberg

Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023