lithe
- bending readily; pliant; limber; supple; flexible: the lithe body of a ballerina.
Origin of lithe
Examples from the Web for lithely
Historical Examples of lithely
He moved with alert assurance, lithely balanced on the balls of his feet, noiselessly.
Within the LawMarvin Dana
Lithely she got to her feet and reached a dial upon the screen.
Hunters Out of SpaceJoseph Everidge Kelleam
She moved to the doctor's side, lithely and with an easy grace.
The Butterfly KissArthur Dekker Savage
They were life-sized, depicting tall, lithely powerful men, with cruel hawk-like faces.
Shadows in the MoonlightRobert E. Howard
She tripped up the steps as lightly as a leaf blown by the wind, her trim figure swaying as lithely as a willow-shoot.
Love in a CloudArlo Bates
lithe
- flexible or supple
Word Origin for lithe
Word Origin and History for lithely
lithe
Old English liðe "soft, mild, gentle, meek," from Proto-Germanic *linthja- (cf. Old Saxon lithi "soft, mild, gentle," Old High German lindi, German lind, Old Norse linr, with characteristic loss of "n" before "th" in English), from PIE root *lent- "flexible" (cf. Latin lentus "flexible, pliant, slow," Sanskrit lithi). In Middle English, used of the weather. Current sense of "easily flexible" is from c.1300. Related: Litheness.