gangly

(This etymology is missing or incomplete. Please add to it, or discuss it at the Etymology scriptorium.)

• (UK, US) IPA^(key): /ˈɡæŋ.ɡli/

• Audio (Southern England)

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gangly (comparative ganglier, superlative gangliest)

1. Tall and thin, especially so as to cause physical awkwardness.
   • 1870–1871 (date written), Mark Twain [pseudonym; Samuel Langhorne Clemens], chapter VII, in Roughing It, Hartford, Conn.: American Publishing Company [et al.], published 1872, →OCLC:

     I should have shot that long gangly lubber they called Hank, if I could have done it without crippling six or seven other people—but of course I couldn't

   • 1917, Jack London, chapter XV, in Michael, Brother of Jerry:

     A rangy, gangly, Scandinavian youth of a sailor, droop-shouldered, six feet six and slender as a lath, with pallid eyes of palest blue and skin and hair attuned to the same colour scheme, joined Kwaque in his work.

   • 1957, Jack Kerouac, On the Road, Viking Press, →OCLC:

     He was a tall, gangly, shy satirist who mumbled to you with his head turned away and always said funny things.

   • 1986, John le Carré, A Perfect Spy:

     She was gangly and wild and walked with her wrists turned inside out...

   • 2007, Oswald J. Schmitz, Ecology and Ecosystem Conservation, page 34:

     Individuals of this rabbit species tend to be very large (about the size of a beagle dog); they have long ears and long, gangly legs and a very thin fur coats.

   • 2011 October 15, Owen Phillips, “Stoke 2 - 0 Fulham”, in BBC Sport‎:

     [Peter Crouch] The gangly striker played a one-two with Jermaine Pennant as the winger cut in from the right, and although Pennant easily jinked past centre-half Brede Hangeland, he shot narrowly wide of the far post.

• See also Thesaurus:scrawny
• lanky

• gangly drink of water

• gangling