shank's mare

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The Word of the Day for January 16 is:=20

shank's mare   \SHANKS-MAIR\   noun
          : one's own legs=20

Example sentence:
          We were determined to see the ruins, and when we found out the=
 shuttle bus wasn't running that day, we traveled by shank's mare.

Did you know?
          "A horse! a horse! my kingdom for a horse!" Many travelers in =
centuries past would have agreed with King Richard's famous lines from S=
hakespeare's _Richard III_ -- when you needed to travel any distance in =
the days before automobiles, you definitely wanted a horse. When one was=
n't available, you had to rely on your built-in transportation equipment=
, your feet and legs. The word "shank" has been used to mean "the lower =
leg" since before the 12th century, and "shank's mare" first appeared in=
 writing in the late 1700s. Another vivid expression connecting people a=
nd horses was "horse with ten toes," but that one is now relegated to hi=
story.





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