peg leg

noun

1. an artificial leg, especially a wooden one.
2. a person with an artificial leg.

peg leg

noun

1. an artificial leg, esp one made of wood
2. a person with an artificial leg

Other Words From

• peglegged adjective

Word History and Origins

Origin of peg leg¹

First recorded in 1760–70

Example Sentences

Jack makes an exaggerated show of trying to hobble around the table on his “peg leg.”

From Literature

Redd’s father took him to see traveling minstrel shows when he was a boy, and he was particularly struck by the one-legged tap dancer Peg Leg Bates moving to the rhythm of a trap drummer.

From New York Times

After divorcing his second wife, he fell madly in love with a Vogue magazine illustrator, and thus began his last incarnation, hobnobbing with the actor Paul Robeson in Manhattan and trotted out by anyone needing a giant, bearded Arctic explorer with a peg leg.

From Washington Post

After years in and out of the hospital and the amputation of his leg, he taught himself to dance again, inspired in part by Clayton “Peg Leg” Bates, a legendary one-legged hoofer who died in 1998.

From Washington Post

Knight believes the one-legged horse-cart driver known by everyone at the time as “Peg Leg” Sullivan had been drinking when he accidentally dropped his cigar in the barn.

From Seattle Times