Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • noun The joint formed by the articulation of the lower leg bones with the talus. The ankle connects the foot with the leg.
  • noun The slender section of the leg immediately above the foot.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • noun The joint which connects the foot with the leg.
  • noun By extension, the slender part of the leg between the calf and the ankle-joint.
  • noun Also spelled ancle.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • noun The joint which connects the foot with the leg; the tarsus.
  • noun the bone of the ankle; the astragalus.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • noun The skeletal joint which connects the foot with the leg; the uppermost portion of the foot and lowermost portion of the leg, which contain this skeletal joint.
  • verb US, slang To walk.
  • verb cycling To cyclically angle the foot at the ankle while pedaling, to maximize the amount of work applied to the pedal during each revolution.

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • noun a gliding joint between the distal ends of the tibia and fibula and the proximal end of the talus

Etymologies

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition

[Middle English ancle, ankel, partly from Old English anclēow and partly of Scandinavian origin.]

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

From Middle English ankel, ancle, ankyl, from Old English *ancol (compare anclēow ("ankle") > Modern English anclef, ancliff, ancley), from Proto-Germanic *ankalaz (“ankle or hip”); akin to Icelandic ökkla, ökli, Danish and Swedish ankel, Dutch enklaauw, enkel, German enkel, Old Norse akka, Old Frisian anckel, and perhaps Old High German encha, ancha ("thigh, shin"), from the Proto-Germanic *ankijōn (“ankle or hip”).

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Examples

Comments

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  • In entertainment industry lingo: "To quit or be dismissed from a job, without necessarily specifying which."

    August 26, 2009

  • First time I've seen 'ankle' used like this, as in 'hobble':

    "The company is talented enough to win without cheating (or hiring PR firms to ankle competitors)."

    Launch, Has Google been Naughty? Yes. Should the Government Get Involved? No, by Jason Calacanis, May 30, 2011

    May 30, 2011