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AKIMBO

 - 3 dictionary results

a⋅kim⋅bo

  [uh-kim-boh]
Use AKIMBO in a Sentence
–adjective, adverb
with hand on hip and elbow bent outward: to stand with arms akimbo.
Origin:
1375–1425; late ME in kenebowe < ON *i keng boginn bent into a crook (i in, keng acc. of kengr hook, boginn ptp. of bjūga to bend)
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2009.
Cite This Source Link To AKIMBO
a·kim·bo   (ə-kĭm'bō)   
adv.  In or into a position in which the hands are on the hips and the elbows are bowed outward: children standing akimbo by the fence.
adj.  

  1. Placed in such a way as to have the hands on the hips and the elbows bowed outward: children standing with arms akimbo.

  2. Being in a bent, bowed, or arched position: "There he remained, dead to the world, limbs akimbo, until we left" (Alex Shoumatoff).


[Middle English in kenebowe : in, in; see in1 + kenebowe (kene-, of unknown meaning + bowe, bow, bend; see bow3).]
The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
Copyright © 2009 by Houghton Mifflin Company.
Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
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Word Origin & History

akimbo 
c.1400, in kenebowe, perhaps from phrase in keen bow "at a sharp angle," or from a Scand. word akin to Icelandic kengboginn "bow-bent." Many languages use a teapot metaphor for this, such as Fr. faire le pot a deux anses "to play the pot with two handles."
Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2001 Douglas Harper
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