Extremely thin or lean in the arms, appearing emaciated or wasted in the arm muscles.
Compound of 'arm' (the body part) and 'gaunt' (thin, hollow-looking), from Old Norse 'gaunt-r.' This appears to be a rare or archaic descriptive term combining two Old English elements.
This wonderfully specific adjective perfectly captures what 17th-century writers saw in portraits of sickly or starving people—the arms become skeletal before most other body parts, making 'armgaunt' a vivid diagnostic detail.
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