Leg (lĕg), n. [Icel. leggr; akin to Dan. læg calf of the leg, Sw. lägg.]

1. A limb or member of an animal used for supporting the body, and in running, climbing, and swimming; esp., that part of the limb between the knee and foot.

2. That which resembles a leg in form or use; especially, any long and slender support on which any object rests; as, the leg of a table; the leg of a pair of compasses or dividers.

3. The part of any article of clothing which covers the leg; as, the leg of a stocking or of a pair of trousers.

4. A bow, esp. in the phrase to make a leg; probably from drawing the leg backward in bowing. [Obs.]

He that will give a cap and make a leg in thanks for a favor he never received. Fuller.

5. A disreputable sporting character; a blackleg. [Slang, Eng.]

6. (Naut.) The course and distance made by a vessel on one tack or between tacks.

7. (Steam Boiler) An extension of the boiler downward, in the form of a narrow space between vertical plates, sometimes nearly surrounding the furnace and ash pit, and serving to support the boiler; -- called also water leg.

8. (Grain Elevator) The case containing the lower part of the belt which carries the buckets.

9. (Cricket) A fielder whose position is on the outside, a little in rear of the batter.

"A good leg (Naut.), a course sailed on a tack which is near the desired course. -- Leg bail, escape from custody by flight. [Slang] -- Legs of an hyperbola (or other curve) (Geom.), the branches of the curve which extend outward indefinitely. -- Legs of a triangle, the sides of a triangle; -- a name seldom used unless one of the sides is first distinguished by some appropriate term; as, the hypothenuse and two legs of a right-angled triangle. On ones legs, standing to speak. -- On ones last legs. See under Last. -- To have legs (Naut.), to have speed. -- To stand on ones own legs, to support ones self; to be independent."

Leg (lĕg), v. t. To use as a leg, with it as object: (a) To bow. [Obs.] (b) To run. [Low]

Leg , n.

1.(Math.) Either side of a triangle of a triangle as distinguished from the base or, in a right triangle, from the hypotenuse; also, an indefinitely extending branch of a curve, as of a hyperbola.

2. (Telephony) A branch or lateral circuit connecting an instrument with the main line.

3. (Elec.) A branch circuit; one phase of a polyphase system.

-- Webster's unabridged 1913