elbows

1. 1
   noun

   Plural of elbow.

   The dancers raised their elbows high and turned in unison.

   Years of heavy lifting had worn down both of his elbows.

   Note

   Every kind of elbow takes the same regular -s. That covers the joints of the arms, bends in a wall or coastline, short angled pipe fittings, the raised arms of a sofa, and even blows thrown in a crowd. The spelling is shared with the verb form, so let the frame decide: two elbows counts things, while she elbows describes someone pushing.

2. 2
   verb

   Third-person singular simple present of elbow.

   The forward elbows defenders aside to reach the basket.

   She elbows past the reporters and slips into the waiting car.

   Note

   The present-tense form for a single subject doing the pushing: he elbows, the crowd elbows. It usually takes an object or a direction, as in elbows defenders aside, elbows past the reporters, or elbows her way through. The informal workplace sense keeps that shape, with the displaced colleague as the object, so the physical shove and the career shove are built the same way.

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