/ leg; NAmE / noun , verb
■ noun
PART OF BODY
1.
[ C ] one of the long parts that connect the feet to the rest of the body :
I broke my leg playing football.
How many legs does a centipede have?
front / back legs
forelegs / hind legs
a wooden leg
—picture at body
—see also bow legs , daddy-long-legs , inside leg , leggy , legroom , peg leg , sea legs
MEAT
2.
[ C , U ] leg (of sth) the leg of an animal, especially the top part, cooked and eaten :
frogs' legs
chicken legs
roast leg of lamb
OF TROUSERS / PANTS
3.
[ C ] the part of a pair of trousers / pants that covers the leg :
a trouser / pant leg
These jeans are too long in the leg .
OF TABLE / CHAIR
4.
[ C ] one of the long thin parts on the bottom of a table, chair, etc. that support it :
a chair leg
-LEGGED
5.
/ˈlegɪd; legd/ (in adjectives) having the number or type of legs mentioned :
a three-legged stool
a long-legged insect
HELP NOTE : When -legged is used with numbers, it is nearly always pronounced / ˈleɡɪd / ; in other adjectives it can be pronounced / ˈleɡɪd / or / leɡd / .
—see also cross-legged
OF JOURNEY / RACE
6.
[ C ] leg (of sth) one part of a journey or race
SYN section , stage
SPORTS GAME
7.
[ C ] ( BrE ) one of a pair of matches played between the same opponents in a sports competition, which together form a single round (= stage) of the competition
•
IDIOMS
- break a leg!
- get your leg over
- have legs
- not have a leg to stand on
—more at arm noun , fast adverb , last adjective , pull verb , shake verb , stretch verb , tail noun , talk verb
—see also leg-up
■ verb
( -gg- )
•
IDIOMS
- leg it
••
WORD ORIGIN
Middle English (superseding shank ): from Old Norse leggr (compare with Danish læg calf (of the leg)), of Germanic origin.