A limb or member of an animal used for supporting the body, and in running, climbing, and swimming; esp., that part of the limb between the knee and foot.
That which resembles a leg in form or use; especially, any long and slender support on which any object rests; as, the leg of a table; the leg of a pair of compasses or dividers.
The part of any article of clothing which covers the leg; as, the leg of a stocking or of a pair of trousers.
A bow, esp. in the phrase to make a leg; probably from drawing the leg backward in bowing. [Obs.]
He that will give a cap and make a leg in thanks for a favor he never received.
A disreputable sporting character; a blackleg. [Slang, Eng.]
The course and distance made by a vessel on one tack or between tacks. (Naut.)
An extension of the boiler downward, in the form of a narrow space between vertical plates, sometimes nearly surrounding the furnace and ash pit, and serving to support the boiler; -- called also water leg. (Steam Boiler)
The case containing the lower part of the belt which carries the buckets. (Grain Elevator)
A fielder whose position is on the outside, a little in rear of the batter. (Cricket)
Either side of a triangle distinguished from the base or, in a right triangle, from the hypotenuse; also, an indefinitely extending branch of a curve, as of a hyperbola. (Math.)
A branch or lateral circuit connecting an instrument with the main line. (Telephony)
A branch circuit; one phase of a polyphase system. (Elec.)
Phrases & Compounds
A good leg
a course sailed on a tack which is near the desired course.
Leg bail
escape from custody by flight.
Legs of an hyperbola
the branches of the curve which extend outward indefinitely.
Legs of a triangle
the sides of a triangle; -- a name seldom used unless one of the sides is first distinguished by some appropriate term; as, the hypotenuse and two legs of a right-angled triangle.