ANKLE-DEEP

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

IPA (US):

 Dictionary entry overview: What does ankle-deep mean? 

• ANKLE-DEEP (adjective)
  The adjective ANKLE-DEEP has 1 sense:

1. coming only to the ankle or knee

  Familiarity information: ANKLE-DEEP used as an adjective is very rare.

 Dictionary entry details 

• ANKLE-DEEP (adjective)

Sense 1

Meaning:

Coming only to the ankle or knee

Synonyms:

ankle-deep; knee-deep

Similar:

shallow (lacking physical depth; having little spatial extension downward or inward from an outer surface or backward or outward from a center)

 Context examples 

It has not been so dirty the whole winter; it is ankle-deep everywhere.

(Northanger Abbey, by Jane Austen)

In many places the ground was absolutely covered with them, and as we walked ankle-deep on that wonderful yielding carpet, the scent was almost intoxicating in its sweetness and intensity.

(The Lost World, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

Now and again a peaty amber colored stream rippled across their way, with ferny over-grown banks, where the blue kingfisher flitted busily from side to side, or the gray and pensive heron, swollen with trout and dignity, stood ankle-deep among the sedges.

(The White Company, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

Even the triumphant issue of his labours could not save him from reaction after so terrible an exertion, and at a time when Europe was ringing with his name and when his room was literally ankle-deep with congratulatory telegrams I found him a prey to the blackest depression.

(The Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)