Standard Lemma guide

elbowy

adj · 4 senses · updated from the 2026-07-25 local source snapshot

Definitions and examples are grouped by meaning. Pronunciation, history, word forms, translations, descendants, synonyms, antonyms, derived terms, and related words appear whenever the source provides them.

Sound

Pronunciation

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1

adj

Meaning 1

Tall and awkward. (of a person’s body)

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Examples

  • 1892, Ambrose Bierce, “A Society Leader” in Black Beetles in Amber, San Francisco: Western Authors Publishing Company, p. 85, Doubtless it gratifies you to observe Elbowy girls and adipose mamas All looking adoration as you swerve This way and that;

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

2

adj

Meaning 2

Awkward; especially, involving the awkward protrusion of the elbows. (of a person’s movement)

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

3

adj

Meaning 3

Having bends that resemble elbows. (of a tree or branches)

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Examples

  • 1928, Anne Morrow Lindbergh, diary entry dated 3 May, 1928, in Bring Me a Unicorn: Diaries and Letters of Anne Morrow Lindbergh, 1922-1928, New York: Signet, 1973, p. 139, I [...] looked out over my garden: the unkempt lush grass and the sweet-gum tree with elbowy boughs, crotchety and irregular.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

4

adj

Meaning 4

Angular in an awkward way. (of a built structure)

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

History

Etymology

From elbow + -y.