akimbo - Definitions from Dictionary.com

5 results for: akimbo

Dictionary.com Unabridged (v 1.1) - Cite This Source - Share This

a·kim·bo

Audio Help [uh-kim-boh] Pronunciation Key

–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)

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Dictionary.com Unabridged (v 1.1)
Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2006.

Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc.
akimbo

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American Heritage Dictionary - Cite This Source - Share This

a·kim·bo Audio Help   (ə-kĭm'bō) Pronunciation Key
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.

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

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Online Etymology Dictionary - Cite This Source - Share This
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."

WordNet - Cite This Source - Share This

akimbo
adjective
1.	(used of arms and legs) bent outward with the joint away from the body; "a tailor sitting with legs akimbo"; "stood with arms akimbo"
adverb
1.	with hands on hips and elbows extending outward; "she stood there akimbo"

Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary - Cite This Source - Share This

Akimbo

A*kim"bo\, a. [Etymology unknown. Cf. Kimbo.] With a crook or bend; with the hand on the hip and elbow turned outward. "With one arm akimbo." --Irving.

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