Word of the Day Archive
Tuesday April 30, 2002
lissom \LISS-uhm\ , adjective;
also lissome:
1. Limber; supple; flexible.
2. Light and quick in action; nimble; agile; active.
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
Lissom is an alteration of lithesome, which derives from Old English lithe, "flexible, mild, gentle."
Dictionary.com Entry and Pronunciation for lissom
