elbow

Syllables: el·bow[ˈæ̝wbɐw]UK/ˈɛlbəʊ̯/

elbow noun: the joint between the upper arm and the forearm.

Image: אנדר-ויק • שיחה, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons

Noun

elbow (plural elbows)

The joint between the upper arm and the forearm.
- Up to the elbowes naked were there Armes.1627, Michael Drayton, “The Moone-Calfe”, in English Poetry 1579-1830: Spenser and the Tradition, archived from the original on 19 Jul 2016
- Elbows almost touching they leaned at ease, idly reading the almost obliterated lines engraved there. ¶ "I never understood it," she observed, lightly scornful. "What occult meaning has a sun-dial for the spooney? I'm sure I don't want to read riddles in a strange gentleman's optics."1907, Robert W. Chambers, chapter VIII, in The Younger Set
Synonyms:

elbow joint
(broadly) 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.
- the sides of windows, where the jamb makes an elbow with the window back
- The water runs down with a strong, sharp stickle, and then has a sudden elbow in it, where the small brook trickles in; and on that side the bank is steep, four or it may be five feet high, overhanging loamily; […]1869, Richard Doddridge Blackmore, Lorna Doone: A Romance of Exmoor
(US, dated, early 20th-century slang) A detective.
- "An elbow, huh?" putting all the contempt he could in his voice; and somehow any synonym for detective seems able to hold a lot of contempt.1924, Dashiell Hammett, Zigzags of Treachery
Part of a basketball court located at the intersection of the free-throw line and the free-throw lane.
A hit, strike, or blow with the elbow.
- In the fair dinkum department that elbow prop Barrie McDermott threw into the face of Paul Sironen deserved to get him four months on the side-lines[.]1995, Paul Vautin, Turn It Up!, Sydney: Pan Macmillan Australia, page 200
- England ran Tunisia ragged in that spell but were punished for missing a host of chances when Ferjani Sassi equalised from the penalty spot against the run of play after Kyle Walker was penalised for an elbow on Fakhreddine Ben Youssef.2018 June 18, Phil McNulty, “Tunisia 1 – 2 England”, in BBC Sport, archived from the original on 21 Apr 2019
(knots) Two nearby crossings of a rope.

Verb

elbow (third-person singular simple present elbows, present participle elbowing, simple past and past participle elbowed)

(transitive) To push with the elbow or elbows; to forge ahead using the elbows to assist.
- He elbowed his way through the crowd.
- Through the crush Malone and Roxton elbowed their way until they reached Challenger's side, and partly by judicious propulsion, partly by artful persuasion, they got him, still bellowing his grievances, out of the building.1925 July – 1926 May, A[rthur] Conan Doyle, “(please specify the chapter number)”, in The Land of Mist (eBook no. 0601351h.html), Australia: Project Gutenberg Australia, published April 2019
To strike with the elbow.
- Trumper elbowed me in the ribs and made a sign with his head. He seemed irritated now by our delay.1953, George Lamming, In the Castle of My Skin, McGraw Hill Books Company, Inc., published 1954, page 166
- She looked round for Vera, but could not see her, and in the process of wriggling through the heaving crowd was elbowed in the eye. The blow acted like a spur, putting one thought in her head … to escape.1975, Marjorie Darke, A Question of Courage, Harmondsworth, Middlesex: Kestrel Books, →ISBN, page 108
To nudge, jostle or push.
- Suddenly and with all her heart Kate longed to be home, back at the homestead, to participate in the rambunctious toss and jostle as breakup elbowed its way into the Park.1993, Dana Stabenow, A Fatal Thaw, →ISBN, page 105
(informal) To force (someone) to quit or lose their job so that someone else can be hired.
- The president was elbowed out of power by members of her own party.

elbow meaning in Hindi, Tamil, Marathi and Urdu

elbow in Hindi

joint between upper arm and forearm: कुहनी kuhnī, कोहनी kohnī

elbow in Tamil

joint between upper arm and forearm: முழங்கை muḻaṅkai

elbow in Marathi

joint between upper arm and forearm: कोपर kopar

elbow in Urdu

joint between upper arm and forearm: کُہْنی kuhnī

More languagesFewer languages

elbow in Bengali: বাঁক bãk, মোড় mōṛ
elbow in Telugu: మోచేయి mōcēyi
elbow in Malayalam: കൈമുട്ട് kaimuṭṭŭ, മുട്ടുകൈ muṭṭukai
elbow in Kannada: ಮೊಣಕಯ್, ತೋಳು
elbow in Punjabi: ਕੂਹਣੀ kūhṇī
elbow in Gujarati: કોણી koṇī
elbow in Odia: କହୁଣି kahuṇi
elbow in Sanskrit: कूर्पर kūrpara
elbow in Sinhala: වැලමිට wælamiṭa
elbow in Assamese: কিলাকুটি kilakuti, কিল kil
elbow in Nepali: कुहिनो kuhino
elbow in Pashto: څنګل śangël
elbow in Tagalog: sìko
elbow in Arabic: كُوع kūʕ, مِرْفَق mirfaq, كُوعٌ kūʕun
elbow in Malay: siku, menyiku
elbow in Indonesian: siku
elbow in Thai: ข้อศอก kɔ̂ɔ-sɔ̀ɔk, ศอก sɔ̀ɔk, ถอง tɔ̌ɔng
elbow in Vietnamese: khuỷu tay
elbow in Myanmar: တံတောင် tamtaung
Dhivehi: އުޅަބޮށި uḷaboṣi

Examples of elbow in a sentence

I put my head on the pillow and am just about to inch warmth-seekingly closer to her when she suddenly elbows me full in the face with stupefying force.2001 November 24, Mil Millington, “Things my girlfriend and I argue about”, in Alan Rusbridger, editor, The Guardian, London: Guardian News...
Green also left the game in the first quarter after Xavier Tillman inadvertently elbowed him in the face.2022 May 4, Tania Ganguli, “Against Grizzlies, Golden State Warriors Feel Range of Emotions”, in The New York Times, New York, N.Y.: The...

All 40 example sentences with elbow

Synonyms of elbow

elbow joint

Forms of elbow

Noun
plural	elbows
Verb
third-person singular present	elbows
present participle	elbowing
past participle	elbowed
past	elbowed

Plural of elbow: elbows

Origin of elbow

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”).

Words formed from elbow

Questions about elbow

What does elbow mean?: Elbow means the joint between the upper arm and the forearm.
What is elbow in Hindi?: Elbow in Hindi is कुहनी (kuhnī), कोहनी (kohnī). See Elbow meaning in Hindi.
How do you use elbow in a sentence?: I put my head on the pillow and am just about to inch warmth-seekingly closer to her when she suddenly elbows me full in the face with stupefying force.
What part of speech is elbow?: Elbow can be a noun or a verb.
How do you pronounce elbow?: Elbow is pronounced /ˈɛlbəʊ̯/ (UK).
What is the plural of elbow?: The plural of elbow is elbows.

Words near elbow in the dictionary

Adapted from Wiktionary: elbow (page history and authors); കൈമുട്ട് (Malayalam) (page history and authors); elbow (Kannada Wiktionary) (page history and authors); ਕੂਹਣੀ (Punjabi) (page history and authors); કોણી (Gujarati) (page history and authors); କହୁଣି (Odia) (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-elbow.ogg.

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