land legs

American

plural noun

the ability to adjust one's sense of balance and motion to walking on land, as after a sea journey or flight.

It took the astronauts some time to regain their land legs after the long space mission.

Etymology

Origin of land legs

First recorded in 1870–75; on the model of sea legs

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.

See Examples For:

land legs

River — it’s time to celebrate and get your land legs back.

From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 14, 2022

The vertebrates that did venture on land were still getting their land legs.

From New York Times ● Apr. 29, 2022

First, I was just a lad of 39 when I wrote the above-referenced op-ed; practically a baby, a spring chicken, a tadpole with little nubs of cynical land legs just beginning to show.

From Salon ● Nov. 8, 2021

The others - the Brits, a Spaniard and a Portuguese - got visas for a month, allowing them to restock with fresh food and regain their land legs.

From BBC ● May 30, 2020

"Getting your land legs, Mr. Crawshay?" he enquired.

From The Box with Broken Seals by E. Phillips (Edward Phillips) Oppenheim

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