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Elbow   /ˈɛlbˌoʊ/   Listen
noun
Elbow  n.  
1.
The joint or bend of the arm; the outer curve in the middle of the arm when bent. "Her arms to the elbows naked."
2.
Any turn or bend like that of the elbow, in a wall, building, and the like; a sudden turn in a line of coast or course of a river; also, an angular or jointed part of any structure, as the raised arm of a chair or sofa, or a short pipe fitting, turning at an angle or bent.
3.
(Arch.) A sharp angle in any surface of wainscoting or other woodwork; the upright sides which flank any paneled work, as the sides of windows, where the jamb makes an elbow with the window back. Note: Elbow is used adjectively or as part of a compound, to denote something shaped like, or acting like, an elbow; as, elbow joint; elbow tongs or elbow-tongs; elbowroom, elbow-room, or elbow room.
At the elbow, very near; at hand.
Elbow grease, energetic application of force in manual labor. (Low)
Elbow in the hawse (Naut.), the twisting together of two cables by which a vessel rides at anchor, caused by swinging completely round once.
Elbow scissors (Surg.), scissors bent in the blade or shank for convenience in cutting.
Out at elbow, with coat worn through at the elbows; shabby; in needy circumstances.



verb
Elbow  v. t.  (past & past part. elbowed; pres. part. elbowing)  To push or hit with the elbow, as when one pushes by another. "They (the Dutch) would elbow our own aldermen off the Royal Exchange."
To elbow one's way, to force one's way by pushing with the elbows; as, to elbow one's way through a crowd.



Elbow  v. i.  
1.
To jut into an angle; to project or to bend after the manner of an elbow.
2.
To push rudely along; to elbow one's way. "Purseproud, elbowing Insolence."






Collaborative International Dictionary of English 0.48








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"Elbow" Quotes from Famous Books



... entered by way of the side porch, just as he had done when Gabe Lumley's depot wagon first deposited him in that yard. But now he entered on tiptoe. The dining room was empty. He peeped into the sitting room. There, by the center table, sat Phoebe Dawes, her elbow on the arm of her chair, and her head ...
— Cy Whittaker's Place • Joseph C. Lincoln

... little Capacity, or Inclination, to argue upon this Subject; and being a little indolent withal, I shall take the Liberty of entertaining to Day with a Story, that lies ready at my elbow; and which I declare before-hand, has no significant Meaning in it, that I know of: If the Sagacity of my Readers can make more of it than my self, in God's Name, let them ...
— The Theater (1720) • Sir John Falstaffe

... with frequent pinches of snuff and chunks of coffee-cake which they drew from inexhaustible pockets. My attempts at conversation with these two having been met with chilling silence, and as Mrs. Mooney had given me several painful thrusts with her sharp elbow when I happened to get too close to her, I took care to keep a safe distance, puzzled as to wherein I might have offended, and lapsing into a morbid interest in the gossip flying thick and fast ...
— The Long Day - The Story of a New York Working Girl As Told by Herself • Dorothy Richardson

... in a house like that. The floor was littered with debris, including a number of hard buns which she could not now eat, but which some charitable neighbour had sent her. She had a wizened baby of seven months, which every now and then she was trying to feed by raising herself on one elbow and forcing bread and water pap, moistened with the merest suspicion of condensed milk, down its throat. None of her four previous children had lived so long. She had been under my care three years before for sailor's scurvy. Her present illness lasted only a week, and in spite ...
— A Labrador Doctor - The Autobiography of Wilfred Thomason Grenfell • Wilfred Thomason Grenfell

... willing and smiling service always within the call of a hand clap, there comes a sense of restfulness and peace. The drawback which the Western man experiences is the lack of any means of resting his back but by lying down and the inability to read for long while resting an elbow on an arm rest which is too low for him.[218] A Japanese often reads kneeling ...
— The Foundations of Japan • J.W. Robertson Scott


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