LITHE

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 Dictionary entry overview: What does lithe mean? 

• LITHE (adjective)
  The adjective LITHE has 1 sense:

1. gracefully thin and bending and moving with ease

  Familiarity information: LITHE used as an adjective is very rare.

 Dictionary entry details 

• LITHE (adjective)

Sense 1

Meaning:

Gracefully thin and bending and moving with ease

Synonyms:

lissom; lissome; lithe; lithesome; sinuous; supple

Similar:

graceful (characterized by beauty of movement, style, form, or execution)

Derivation:

litheness (the gracefulness of a person or animal that is flexible and supple)

 Context examples 

When I turned he was standing close by my elbow, a small, brown man with the lithe, slim figure of a boy.

(Rodney Stone, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

He was a fine figure of a man, tall, lithe, and agile, with a springy step and a pleasant, open face.

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

By his side walked a woman, tall and slight and dark, with lithe, graceful figure and clear-cut, composed features.

(The White Company, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

In vain I searched among the groups of travellers and leave-takers for the lithe figure of my friend.

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

He was cat-footed, and lithe, and strong, always strong.

(The Sea-Wolf, by Jack London)

He became quicker of movement than the other dogs, swifter of foot, craftier, deadlier, more lithe, more lean with ironlike muscle and sinew, more enduring, more cruel, more ferocious, and more intelligent.

(White Fang, by Jack London)

In another instant he stood at the side of the hole and was hauling after him a companion, lithe and small like himself, with a pale face and a shock of very red hair.

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

One morning when I went into the parlour with my books, I found my mother looking anxious, Miss Murdstone looking firm, and Mr. Murdstone binding something round the bottom of a cane—a lithe and limber cane, which he left off binding when I came in, and poised and switched in the air.

(David Copperfield, by Charles Dickens)

Her breath came quick and fast, and every inch of the lithe figure was quivering with strong emotion.

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

Beautiful as she had seemed to him before, the lithe charm of her figure and the proud, free grace of her bearing were enhanced now by the rich simplicity of her attire.

(The White Company, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)