akimbo

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The Word of the Day for April 11 is:

akimbo   \uh-KIM-boh\   adjective or adverb 
    *1 : having the hand on the hip and the elbow turned outward
     2 : set in a bent position

Example sentence: 
     The model, arms akimbo, struck a pose at the end of the runway.

Did you know? 
     It's "akimbo" nowadays, but in Middle English, the spelling "in kenebowe" 
was used for the bent, hand-on-hip arm (or later, for any bent position). 
Originally, the term was fairly neutral, but now saying that a person is 
standing with "arms akimbo" implies a posture that communicates defiance, 
confidence, aggressiveness, or arrogance. In her novel _Little Women_, Louisa 
May Alcott took the word one step further, extending it into the figurative 
realm when she explained that tomboyish Jo had not been invited to participate 
in an elegant event with the other young ladies of the neighborhood because 
"her elbows were decidedly akimbo at this period of her life." 

*Indicates the sense illustrated in the example sentence.




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