linnow

English

Alternative forms

Etymology

Uncertain; perhaps from West Midland Middle English lengh, lenghe (“length”), with vocalisation of final /x/ and the original meaning being "lengthy, slender", though some trace of both the formal and semantic development would be expected already in Middle English.

Adjective

linnow (comparative more linnow, superlative most linnow)

  1. (dialectal, especially Shropshire, Montgomeryshire, Worcestershire, obsolete) Flexible, supple.
    • 1528 (1535), Paynel, Salerne's Regim., , page 108 b:
      Baynyngmaketh the skynne linnowe or soupulle.
    • 1877, "an aged man", quoted in The Montgomeryshire Collections, page 216:
      "I'm as linnow now as ever."
    • 1904, Catherine Milnes Gaskell, Old Shropshire Life, page 291:
      Then Rowland got up with a despairing gesture. “I haven't nobody,” he murmured, and went tottering up the stairs. “Lor!” said Priss meditatively, “I thought as the lad wud have had more spunk in 'im, but he's as linnow as a glove.

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