light-heeled

English

Etymology

From light (“lacking weight”, adjective) +‎ heeled (“having heels”, adjective).

Pronunciation

enPR: lītʹhēld

Adjective

light-heeled (comparative lighter-heeled or more light-heeled, superlative lightest-heeled or most light-heeled)

(archaic) Nimble or lively in walking or running; swift of foot.
(obsolete) Of loose character; not chaste; immoral. Literally, as if by the flying up of the heels, one is apt to fall flat on their back.[1]
a light-heeled wench

Synonyms

(of loose character): incontinent, unchaste, wanton

References

Francis Grose (1796) “Light-heeled”, in A Classical Dictionary of the Vulgar Tongue, 3rd edition, London: Hooper & Co.: “A light-heeled wench; one who is apt, by the flying up of her heels, to fall flat on her back, a willing wench.”

William Dwight Whitney and Benjamin E[li] Smith, editors (1914), “light-heeled”, in The Century Dictionary: An Encyclopedic Lexicon of the English Language, revised edition, volumes III (Hoop–O), New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., →OCLC.

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