Elbow
Pronunciation
- UK IPA: /ˈɛlbəʊ/
- US IPA: /ˈɛlboʊ/
Origin
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").
Full definition of elbow
Noun
elbow
(plural elbows)- The joint between the upper arm and the forearm.
- R. of Gloucesterher arms to the elbows naked
- Any turn or bend like that of the elbow, in a wall, building, coastline, etc.; an angular or jointed part of any structure, such as the raised arm of a chair or sofa, or a short pipe fitting, turning at an angle or bent.the sides of windows, where the jamb makes an elbow with the window back
- (US, obsolete, early 20th-century slang) A detective.
- 1924, Dashiell Hammett, "Zigzags of Treachery":"An elbow, huh?" putting all the contempt he could in his voice; and somehow any synonym for detective seems able to hold a lot of contempt.
- (basketball) Part of a basketball court located at the intersection of the free-throw line and the free-throw lane.Newell, Pete; Nater, Swen (2008). Pete Newell's Playing Big. Human Kinetics. p. 26. . Retrieved April 11, 2013.