thin as a rail

Idioms  

1. Very slender, as in I do not know why she's dieting; she's thin as a rail already. This simile, which uses rail in the sense of “a narrow bar,” has largely replaced such other versions as thin as a lath or rake, although the latter is still common in Britain. [Second half of 1800s]

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Example Sentences

Lee: It’s well known that Audrey was as thin as a rail, which was true.

From Fox News

Thin as a rail, with a sparse mustache, he would sometimes have little idea about where or who he was.

From New York Times

He was sensational, thin as a rail but with amazing power – and very strong.

From The Guardian

At 14, Hou was thin as a rail, with a back curved from hours spent hunched over a computer screen.

From Los Angeles Times

In those days, my mother, a former model and television singer, was a walking contradiction: Thin as a rail with a metabolism like a hummingbird and a visceral suspicion of food, she ate in public only if her self-esteem was on an upswing, and she seemed to eat for the sheer entertainment of the people around her who were stunned by the carnal vigor with which she gobbled even the most diminutive portions.

From Washington Post

Related Words

• bony
• gaunt
• scrawny
• skeletal
• skinny