Both Uses of
lithe
in
Moby Dick
- To look at the tawny brawn of his lithe snaky limbs, you would almost have credited the superstitions of some of the earlier Puritans, and half-believed this wild Indian to be a son of the Prince of the Powers of the Air.†
Chpt 25-27lithe = graceful and flexible (moving and bending with ease)
- Hark ye, lad—fleet interlacings of the limbs—lithe swayings—coyings—flutterings!†
Chpt 40-42 *
Definitions:
-
(1)
(lithe) a graceful, flexible body -- often implying thinness
or:
graceful, flexible body movement -
(2)
(meaning too rare to warrant focus) meaning too rare to warrant focus:
More rarely, lithe can mean that something is easily bent or flexed--such as "a thin blade of lithe steel," or "twisted the lithe vines."