Word of the Day for Tuesday, April 19, 2011
akimbo \uh-KIM-boh\, adjective:
With hand on hip and elbow bent outward.
Can't you just see Michelle yammering away at the B.O. with her arms all akimbo after she caught him smoking...again!
--Spy Maker, JSA's Blog
With yards akimbo, she says unto him scornfully, as the old beldam said to the little dwarf: - "Help yourself.-- Herman Melville, Omoo: A Narrative of the South Seas
Which kind of sounds like he's going to stand in the middle of the path, arms akimbo, to prevent bikes from going through.-- "Path to confusion in Carlton Gardens," Melbounre Times Weekly, 2011
Akimbo is the descendent of the Middle English kenebowe, which itself is a modification of the Old Norse i keng boginn, both meaning "bent into a crook."
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