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shanks' nag. In DICTIOUS you will not only get to know all the dictionary meanings for the word
shanks' nag, but we will also tell you about its etymology, its characteristics and you will know how to say
shanks' nag in singular and plural. Everything you need to know about the word
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English
- shank's nag, shanks-naig, shanks-nag.
Etymology
Traced back to shanks-nag, 1758; The expression -- believed to be Scottish in origin (i.e. shanks-naig 1774), refers to the use of shank to refer to the part of the human leg between the knee and ankle.
Noun
shanks' nag (plural shanks' nags)
- (idiomatic, Scotland, archaic) Transportation by foot. To "take a shanks' nag" means using one's own legs to walk.
1774, Robert Fergusson, Poems on Various Subjects:He took shanks-naig, but fient may care.
Derived terms
Translations
References
- Shanks' mare, by Michael Quinion, World Wide Words, 2002-08-31
- Shanks' mare, Gary Martin, 2007.
- shanks-nag, in A Glossary of the Cleveland Dialect: Explanatory, Derivative, and Critical, by John Christopher Atkinson. J.R. Smith: 1868, p. 442.