spindling

American  

[spind-ling] / ˈspɪnd lɪŋ /

adjective

1. long or tall and slender, often disproportionately so.

2. growing into a long, slender stalk or stem, often too slender or weak to remain upright.

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noun

1. a spindling person or thing.

spindling British  

/ ˈspɪndlɪŋ /

adjective

1. long and slender, esp disproportionately so

2. (of stalks, shoots, etc) becoming long and slender

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noun

1. a spindling person or thing

Etymology

Origin of spindling

First recorded in 1740–50; spindle + -ing ², -ing ¹

Example Sentences

It ended abruptly at a forest of skeletal trees, branches spindling up like the tips of wet paintbrushes, and for a while the path became so lost beneath fallen trunks and carpets of ivy that navigating it was a matter of faith.

From Literature

In a subduction zone, you get some really wild rocks, rocks that’ve been through it, rocks that have been chewed up and spit out, rocks that, were they a letter, would get the post office in deep trouble for the amount of folding, spindling and mutilating they’ve endured.

From Scientific American

Above the tiny grass-plat and spindling poplars in Mount Vernon Square floats the magic of a night in mid-June.

From Project Gutenberg

Late in March and early in April rain again fell, delaying the annual ceremony of the Swearing to the Flag, but making the spindling corn fill out in a magical fashion and the beans that had begun to shrivel and blacken become erect and juicy.

From Project Gutenberg

Spindling, rusty Snowberry bushes were by the gate, and Snowballs also, or our native Viburnums.

From Project Gutenberg