Elbow Definition
ĕlbō
elbowed, elbowing, elbows
noun
elbows
The joint between the upper and lower arm; esp., the outer part of the angle made by a bent arm.
Webster's New World
The bony outer projection of this joint.
American Heritage Medicine
The joint corresponding to this in the forelimb of quadrupeds.
Webster's New World
The part of a sleeve covering the elbow.
Webster's New World
Anything bent like an elbow, as a fitting for joining plumbing pipes at a 45° or 90° angle.
Webster's New World
verb
elbowed, elbowing, elbows
To make one's way by shoving or jostling.
Webster's New World
To shove or jostle with or as with elbows.
Webster's New World
To open up (a means of passage, for example) by or as if by use of the elbow.
Elbowed her way through the crowd.
American Heritage
To push (one's way) with the elbows or rudely.
Webster's New World
To form an angle.
Webster's New World
idiom
at (one's) elbow
- Close at hand; nearby.
American Heritage
out at the elbows
- Poorly dressed.
- Lacking money.
American Heritage
at someone's elbow
- very close to someone; easy to reach
Webster's New World
out at (the) elbows
- shabby; poverty-stricken
Webster's New World
up to the elbows
- deeply engaged (in work, etc.)
Webster's New World
Idioms, Phrasal Verbs Related to Elbow
- at (one's) elbow
- out at the elbows
- at someone's elbow
- out at (the) elbows
- up to the elbows
Origin of Elbow
-
From Middle English elbowe, from Old English elboga, elnboga (“elbow”), from Proto-Germanic *alinabugô (“elbow”), equivalent to ell + bow. Cognate with Scots elbuck (“elbow”), Saterland Frisian Älbooge (“elbow”), Dutch elleboog (“elbow”), Low German Ellebage (“elbow”), German Ellbogen, Ellenbogen (“elbow”), Danish albue (“elbow”), Icelandic olbogi, olnbogi (“elbow”).
From Wiktionary
-
Middle English elbowe from Old English elnboga el- in Indo-European roots
From American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition
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