Word of the Day

Sunday, May 30, 1999

lissom

\LISS-uhm\ , adjective;

also lissome

Limber; supple; flexible.

Light and quick in action; nimble; agile; active.

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Quotes:

Raphaelle Boitel moves with the lissom, contortionist plastique of a snake-woman.

-- Nadine Meisner, "Clowns real and imagined", Independent, April 20, 2001

Her foot touches the plate and sets off the trap, but so swift and lissome is she that her ankles evade the clash of the serrated iron jaws as they spring together.

-- John Bayley, Iris and Her Friends

Origin:

Lissom is an alteration of lithesome, which derives from Old English lithe, "flexible, mild, gentle."