elbow

CEFRB1

/ˈɛlbəʊ̯/

noun · verb

Türkçe translations

Translating…

In plain English

  1. 01

    noun

    The joint in the middle of your arm.

  2. 02

    verb

    To push past people using your elbow.

Examples

  • Talk of devil, and he's presently at your elbow.

  • You have tennis elbow. Soak your arm in warm water.

At a glance

Sits at B1 on the CEFR scale

Senses
5
Parts of speech
2
Citations
5
Synonyms
1

Also pronounced

  • [ˈæ̝wbɐw]
  • [ˈe̞ɫbəʉ]

Deep Dive

noun

Extra meanings

  1. A detective.

  2. Any turn or bend like that of the elbow, in a wall, building, coastline, etc.; an angular or jointed part of any structure, such as the raised arm of a chair or sofa, or a short pipe fitting, turning at an angle or bent.

  3. The joint between the upper arm and the forearm.

More examples

In context

  • She jabbed him with her elbow.

  • He elbowed his way through the crowd.

  • The president was elbowed out of power by members of her own party.

Synonyms

Quick test

Two questions on this entry. Nothing is scored.

Question 1 · Quick check

He accidentally hit his blank on the doorframe and felt a sharp pain.

Practise this properly in the app, where the word comes back before you forget it.

Nearby

Origin

noun

From Middle English elbowe (“elbow”), from Old English elboga, elnboga (“elbow”), from Proto-Germanic *alinabugô (“elbow”), equivalent to ell + bow. Cognate with Scots elbuck (“elbow”), Saterland Frisian Älbooge (“elbow”), Dutch elleboog (“elbow”), Low German Ellebage (“elbow”), German Ellbogen, Ellenbogen (“elbow”), Danish and Norwegian Bokmål albue (“elbow”), Norwegian Nynorsk olboge (“elbow”), Faroese albogi, Icelandic olbogi, olnbogi (“elbow”), Swedish armbåge (“elbow”).