English

Alternative forms

• shank's nag, shanks-naig, shanks-nag.

Noun

shanks' nag ‎(plural shanks' nags)

1. (idiomatic, Scotland, archaic) Transportation by foot. To "take a shanks' nag" means using one's own legs to walk.
   • 1774, Robert Fergusson, Poems on Various Subjects:

     He took shanks-naig, but fient may care.

Derived terms

• shanks' mare (USA)
• shanks' pony (UK, Australia)

Related terms

• shank-nag (verb)

Translations

References

• Shanks' mare, by Michael Quinion, World Wide Words, 2002-08-31
• Shanks' mare, Gary Martin, 2007.
• shanks-nag, in A Glossary of the Cleveland Dialect: Explanatory, Derivative, and Critical, by John Christopher Atkinson. J.R. Smith: 1868, p. 442.