thin as a yard of pump water en · ADJ
Etymology
A stream of water falling approximately three feet from a water pump into a bucket is both straight and thin.
Meanings
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(UK, US, dialectal, not-comparable) Very thin (skinny).
[…] managed, but they all went on looking so thin as a yard of pump water except Dicky — and he grew fat.
1968, Katharine M. Briggs, Folktales of England, University of Chicago Press, →ISBN, page 74:Her mother was betwixt and between, and her father the same; but Rosie was as thin as a yard of pump-water, and could—and did—eat like a beagle without ever putting-on an extra ounce. Maybe she was abusing her good-fortune.
1947, Lynn Doyle, Green Oranges: Stories:[…] puts away enough food to satiate a pack of ravenous hyenas and remains as thin as a yard of pump water. It's the injustice of the whole thing that infuriates me.
2014, Daniel P Mannix, Freaks: We Who Are Not As Others, eNet Press, →ISBN, page 139:'Mmm. You're as pale as a lily and as thin as a yard of pump water. Mind you, a month or two out working in all weathers should pink you up, and rationing or no, I'll find something to put a bit of weight on you.'
2018, Gloria Cook, Never Just a Memory, Canelo, →ISBN:She wadn't no summer morning to look at, poor soul, and her mistress kept her so thin as a yard of pump water. But there Providence knows best! There were a old fellow over by Aisholt, and he were such a upstanding courageous man he'd a […]
1965, Publications of the Folk-lore Society: