skinny-malinkyadj.n.
/ˌskɪnɪməˈlɪŋki/, U.S. /ˌskɪniməˈlɪŋki/ A. adj.
Chiefly Scottish, Irish English (northern), and English regional (northern). Long and thin; skinny, lanky. Frequently in skinnymalinky long legs (sometimes with direct allusion to the popular children's rhyme: see 1956).
ΘΚΠ
the world > life > the body > bodily shape or physique > slim shape or physique > [adjective] > thin
leanc1000
thinc1000
swonga1300
meagrea1398
empty?c1400
(as) thin (also lean, rank) as a rakec1405
macilent?a1425
rawc1425
gauntc1440
to be skin and bone (also bones)c1450
leany?a1475
swampc1480
scarrya1500
pinched1514
extenuate1528
lean-fleshed1535
carrion-lean1542
spare1548
lank1553
carrion1565
brawn-fallen1578
raw-bone1590
scraggeda1591
thin-bellied1591
rake-lean1593
bare-boned1594
forlorn1594
Lented1594
lean-looked1597
shotten herring1598
spiny1598
starved1598
thin-belly1598
raw-boned1600
larbar1603
meagry?1603
fleshless1605
scraggy1611
ballow1612
lank-leana1616
skinnya1616
hagged1616
scraggling1616
carrion-like1620
extenuated1620
thin-gutted1620
haggard1630
scrannel1638
leanisha1645
skeletontal1651
overlean1657
emaciated1665
slank1668
lathy1672
emaciate1676
nithered1691
emacerated1704
lean-looking1713
scranky1735
squinny-gut(s)1742
mauger1756
squinny1784
angular1789
etiolated1791
as thin (also lean) as a rail1795
wiry1808
slink1817
scranny1820
famine-hollowed1822
sharp featured1824
reedy1830
scrawny1833
stringy1833
lean-ribbeda1845
skeletony1852
famine-pinched1856
shelly1866
flesh-fallen1876
thinnish1884
all horn and hide1890
unfurnished1893
bone-thin1899
underweight1899
asthenic1925
skin-and-bony1935
skinny-malinky1940
skeletal1952
pencil-neck1960
1940 J. Bridie What say They? i. i. 24, in Susannah & Elders & Other Plays There was a rich man in the days of Methusalem, Skinny-malinky-doodlum, Hey, Rogerum!
1956 Sunday Times 22 Jan. 2/5 There used to be a children's song in Aberdeen relating the adventures of a thin man called ‘Skinamalinky Lang Legs’, which is still sung as a skipping song.
1985 L. Lochhead Tarfuffe 35 Skinny malinky so-ca'd flappers canny haud a caunle Tae a real wummin lik' you.
1997 Herald (Glasgow) (Nexis) 27 Sept. 3 Yesterday's show had models ranging from skinny-malinky adolescent waifs to Marianne Faithful in all her fulsome 50-something glory.
2007 Evening Chron. (Newcastle) (Nexis) 21 July 6 I found her astute, witty, self-effacing and not the full-on skinny-malinky long-legs I expected her to be.
B. n.
Scottish. = skinnymalink n.
ΘΚΠ
the world > life > the body > bodily shape or physique > slim shape or physique > [noun] > thin shape > person having
staffc1405
notomy1487
rakea1529
crag1542
scrag1542
sneakbill1546
starveling1546
slim1548
ghost1590
bald-rib1598
bare-bone1598
bow-case1599
atomy1600
sneaksbill1602
thin-gut1602
anatomya1616
sharg1623
skeleton1630
raw-bone1635
living skeleton1650
strammel1706
scarecrow1711
rickle of bones1729
shargar1754
squeeze-crab1785
rack of bones1804
thread-paper1824
bag of bones1838
dry-bones1845
skinnymalink1870
hairpin1879
slim jim1889
skinny1907
underweight1910
asthenic1925
ectomorph1940
skinny-malinky1957
matchstick1959
1957 G. Highet Talents & Geniuses 206 A few deprecatory words are preserved only in Scottish... One is shilpit, which is ‘frail’ and ‘meager’—the opposite of sonsy. A shilpit woman is a skinnamalinky.
1991 L. Lochead in Independent (Nexis) 22 Sept. (Feature section) 20 I was six-fit-six, I was slinky (Yet nae skinnymalinky).
2000 Herald (Glasgow) (Nexis) 5 Sept. She shouted ‘I hate you, you big fat skinnymalinky’. I remember it so well because we all laughed, because we couldn't see how anyone could be fat and skinny.
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, September 2009; most recently modified version published online March 2022).
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adj.n.1940