I. leg 1 S1 W1 /leɡ/ BrE AmE noun
[ Date: 1200-1300 ; Language: Old Norse ; Origin: leggr ]
1 . BODY PART [countable] one of the long parts of your body that your feet are joined to, or a similar part on an animal or insect:
a young boy with skinny legs
She fell and broke her leg.
four-legged/long-legged etc
four-legged animals
2 . MEAT [uncountable and countable] the leg of an animal when it is cooked and eaten as food:
roast leg of lamb
3 .
FURNITURE [countable] one of the upright parts that support a piece of furniture:
One of the legs on the table was a bit wobbly.
a chair leg
a three-legged stool
4 . CLOTHING [countable] the part of your trousers that covers your leg:
The legs of my jeans were covered in mud.
He rolled up his trouser legs and waded out into the stream.
5 . JOURNEY/RACE [countable] one part of a long journey or race
leg of
the final leg of the Tour de France
6 . SPORT [countable] British English one of the series of games in a football competition played between two teams:
Leeds will have to win the second leg if they are to go forward to the finals.
7 . not have a leg to stand on informal to be in a situation where you cannot prove or legally support what you say:
If you didn’t sign a contract, you won’t have a leg to stand on.
8 . get your leg over British English informal not polite to have sex with someone
9 . have legs American English informal if a piece of news has legs, people continue to be interested in it and talk about it
⇨ on its last legs at ↑ last 1 (9), ⇨ on your last legs at ↑ last 1 (8), ⇨ pull sb’s leg at ↑ pull 1 (11), ⇨ ↑ leg-pull , ↑ leg-up , ↑ peg leg , ↑ sea legs , ⇨ shake a leg at ↑ shake 1 (9), ⇨ show a leg at ↑ show 1 (23), ⇨ stretch your legs at ↑ stretch 1 (7)
II. leg 2 BrE AmE verb ( past tense and past participle legged , present participle legging ) British English informal
leg it to run in order to escape from someone or something:
We saw him coming, and legged it out of the house.