Lank
AI In plain words
Writing a short explanation…
Written by a house AI from the entry below, in your language. The entry itself is the source.
lank¹
- /ˈlæŋk/
- [ˈlæŋk]
- /ˈleɪ̯ŋk/ Canada, US
- [ˈleɪ̯ŋk] ~ /ˈlɛ̃ŋk/ Canada, US
- [ˈlɛ̃ŋk] Canada, US
Rhymes with -æŋk
Where it comes from
From Middle English lank, from Old English hlanc, from Proto-West Germanic *hlank, from Proto-Germanic *hlankaz (“lank, thin”), from Proto-Indo-European *kleng- (“to bend, turn, wind, twist”); compare German lenken (“to turn”), Gelenk (“joint”), Old High German hlanca (“hip, side, flank”), and English link (of a chain).
adjective lanker · lankest
- Slender or thin; not well filled out; not plump; shrunken; lean. Run barefoot up and down, threat’ning the flames With bisson rheum; a clout upon that head Where late the diadem stood, and for a robe, About her lank and all o’erteemed loins, A blanket, in the alarm of fear caught up;
- Meagre, paltry, scant in quantity. 1659, Samuel Cradock, Knowledge & Practice, Or, A Plain Discourse of the Chief Things Necessary to be Known, Believ’d & Practised in order to Salvation, London: John Rothwell, Chapter 17, Of the Duties of the Rich, pp. 494-495, We should think him a very imprudent Husbandman, that to save a little s
- Straight and flat; thin and limp. (Often associated with being greasy.) 1695, John Stevens (translator), The Portugues Asia; or, The History of the Discovery and Conquest of India by the Portugues, by Manuel de Faria e Sousa, London: C. Brome, Chapter 10, p. 291, The Inhabitants most simple, and treated them with great affection. Of Colour more inclined to white, of Bod
- Languid; drooping, slack. The water-nymphs, that in the bottom played, Held up their pearled wrists, and took her in, Bearing her straight to aged Nereus’ hall; Who, piteous of her woes, reared her lank head, And gave her to his daughters to imbathe […]
verb lanks · lanking · lanked
- To become lank. […] on the Alps It is reported thou didst eat strange flesh, Which some did die to look on: and all this— It wounds thine honour that I speak it now— Was borne so like a soldier, that thy cheek So much as lank’d not.
noun lanks
- A clump of lank hair. Then he sat down on the edge of the bed and, his auburn hair coming down in glossy lanks over his right temple, his striped tie dangling out of the front of his gray jacket, his bulky gray-flanneled knees parted, zestfully opened the book.
Lank²
proper noun Lanks
- A surname.
