akimbo

UK/əˈkɪm.bəʊ//əˈkɪm.boʊ/

akimbo adjective: with a crook or bend; with the hand on the hip and elbow turned outward.

Image: Pearson Scott Foresman, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons

Adjective

akimbo (not comparable)

With a crook or bend; with the hand on the hip and elbow turned outward.
- "Now, then, mister," said he, with his head cocked and his arms akimbo, "what are you driving at? Let's have it straight, now."1892 [January], A[rthur] Conan Doyle, “Adventures of Sherlock Holmes. VII.—The Adventure of the Blue Carbuncle.”, in Geo[rge] Newnes, editor, The Strand Magazine: An Illustrated Monthly, volume III...
- Girls take hold of the skirts; boys place the hands akimbo, bend forward from the waist, and bow.1921, Lydia Clark, Physical Training for the Elementary Schools: Gymnastics, Games, and Rhythmic Plays, page 66
With legs spread and the knees bent in an outward or awkward way, sometimes with the feet touching.

Adverb

akimbo (not comparable)

Into, in, or of the position where the arms are akimbo.
- The man was standing akimbo.
- Otherwise, it is likely that she may be accosted as "dear" or "Sally,"—invited to take "a drop o' tea," or otherwise chaffed by rough women standing akimbo at street doors.1903, Emily Constance Baird Cook, Highways and byways in London, page 430
Of weapons, especially firearms: one held in each hand.
- Although it was a little impractical, Elmer held his revolvers akimbo because to him it looked cool.

Verb

akimbo (third-person singular simple present akimbos, present participle akimboing, simple past and past participle akimboed)

(slang, transitive) To wield (two weapons), one in each hand.

akimbo meaning in Malayalam, Tagalog and Indonesian

akimbo in Tagalog

with a crook or bend; with the hand on the hip and elbow turned outward: nakapamaywang

akimbo in Indonesian

with a crook or bend; with the hand on the hip and elbow turned outward: bercekak pinggang, bertolak pinggang, kecak pinggang, pegang pinggang

Examples of akimbo in a sentence

She was now standing arms akimbo, her shoulders drooping a little, her head cocked to one side, her glasses winking in the sunlight.1960 July 11, Harper Lee, To Kill a Mockingbird, Philadelphia, Pa.; New York, N.Y.: J[oshua] B[allinger] Lippincott Company, →OCLC:
Men preferred one pose above all others, namely, the elbow akimbo.2004, Zirka Z. Filipczak, “Poses and Passions: Mona Lisa's 'Closely Folded' Hands”, in G K Paster et al., editors, Reading the Early Modern...
...and the other end window bearing the figure of a woman standing akimbo with her right hand touching her right temple.1978, Padma Upadhyaya, Female Images in the Museums of Uttar Pradesh, page 272:

Forms of akimbo

Adjective
alternative form	akembo
alternative form	a kimbow
alternative form	kimbo
Verb
third-person singular present	akimbos
present participle	akimboing
past participle	akimboed
past	akimboed

Origin of akimbo

From Middle English in kenebowe, in kene bowe (“in a keen bow”, i.e. “in a sharp bend or angle”), from in (“in”) + keen, kene (“brave, keen, sharp”) + bowe (“bow, bend”). Alternately, possibly from Old Norse kengr (“bent”) + bogi (“a bow”), compare Icelandic kengboginn (“bow-bent”).

Words that rhyme with akimbo

Questions about akimbo

What does akimbo mean?: Akimbo means with a crook or bend; with the hand on the hip and elbow turned outward.
What is akimbo in Malayalam?: Akimbo in Malayalam is അരയിൽ കൊടുങ്കൈ കുത്തിയ, എളിയിൽ കൈവച്ച്. See Akimbo meaning in Malayalam.
How do you use akimbo in a sentence?: She was now standing arms akimbo, her shoulders drooping a little, her head cocked to one side, her glasses winking in the sunlight.
What part of speech is akimbo?: Akimbo can be an adjective, an adverb or a verb.
How do you pronounce akimbo?: Akimbo is pronounced /əˈkɪm.bəʊ/ (UK).

Words near akimbo in the dictionary

Adapted from Wiktionary: akimbo (page history and authors); akimbo (Malayalam Wiktionary) (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

Last updated: 2026-09-02

Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: en-us-akimbo.ogg.

Cite this entry: “akimbo.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/akimbo. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.