HEIGHT

TALL
ABOVE AVERAGE HEIGHT BE A GIANT: (of a man) extremely tall BE AN AMAZON: used for women, very tall and strong, esp. one who likes sports. (humorous) BE JUST OVER FIVE FEET BE OF AVERAGE HEIGHT BE OF MEDIUM HEIGHT BE UNDER FIVE FEET GAWKY (adj - informal): tall and awkward
Ten years ago he was a gawky teenager.

LANKY (adj): unattractively long and thin, suggest length and tallness and sometimes awkwardness.
The baby had long, lanky legs which he did not seem quite able to control. A LANKY teenager

LOFTY (noun): sometimes used as a nickname (= informal name) for a tall person.
Over here, Lofty!

TO TOWER (v): [subj + adverb or preposition + obj] be taller than

Although he's only 12, David towers over/above his mother.

IDIOMS (HUMOROUS) TALL AS A MAYPOLE TALL AS A POPLAR (poplar: a tall tree with branches that grow upwards to form a thin pointed shape) TALL AS A STEEPLE (steeple: pointed structure on the top of a church tower, or the tower and the pointed structure considered as one unit a church steeple) TALLISH TOO TALL FOR HIS /HER AGE

SHORT
BE KNEE-HIGH TO A GRASSHOPPER
Most of the team players dislike him: not for being a knee-high to a grasshopper but for treating people rudely.
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 BE A MIDGET: 1) a very small person who will never grow tall because there is something wrong with their body. 2) (Br Eng, infml, humorous and offensive) someone who is very short (PIGMEO)
Dont worry, her husband wont hurt you, he is a midget!

BE AN ANT (DEROGATORY)
They look so funny together: she is tiny and her husband is an ant.

BE BELOW AVERAGE HEIGHT

He was not allowed to get into the army because he is below average height.

BE ON THE SHORT SIDE or shortish (very much used) You dont have difficulties at reaching object from that shelf, but you know
I cant, I am on the short side!

BE PINT-SIZED (informal esp. disapproving): If someone or something is pint-sized /pint-size, they are small and not important.
Don't worry about him, he's just a pint-sized nobody.

DINKY (adj): small (UK and ANZ approving) 'She's got dinky little (= small and charming) feet',

he said, 'I love her feet!' (US disapproving) They live in a dinky (= small and without charm) one-room apartment.

DWARF: a person that does not continue growing to the normal height but remains very short
The smallest man in the world is a dwarf who lives in the United States.

ITSY-BITSY (UK and US) adjective [before noun], US and ANZ also ITTY-BITTY [before noun]: humorous - extremely small.
The baby had itsy-bitsy little hands and feet. It's the itsy-bitsiest hat I've ever seen.

PETITE (adj - approving): (of a woman or girl) small and delicate.

She was dark and petite, as all his wives had been.

TINY: extremely small UNDERSIZED (adjective): smaller than average, or smaller than it should be.
Hes an undersized, malnourished boy.

POCKET-SIZED (adj informal disapproving): small

I'm not going to be told what to do by some pocket-sized kid.

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WEIGHT
FAT
BE A SQUARE BE BIG ROUND AS HE / SHE IS TALL BE BUILT LIKE A BARREL BE HEAVY-SET: Someone who is heavy-set has a large, wide, strong body. BULKY (adj): large and shapeless.
Her padded coat made her look very bulky.

BLOB (noun - informal) a fat person. You fat blob! [as form of address] BLUBBER (noun - informal): human fat
He's gone on a diet to try to lose some of his blubber before his wedding.

BUXOM (adj): (of a woman) healthy-looking and slightly fat, with large breasts.
He fell in love with a buxom hairdresser.

CHUBBY (adj noun: chubbiness): (generally used for babies and children) pleasantly fat and healthy-looking
She has chubby cheeks.

CORPULENT (adj noun: corpulence): (rather formal) very fat.

John is a corpulent boy.

DUMPY (adj): short and fat

The film is about a man who falls in love with a dumpy housewife.

FAT (impolite, negative) having too much flesh on you body. Collocations: cattle, baby.
Youll get even fatter if you eat all those cream cakes.

FATSO (noun - informal disapproving or humorous): a fatty FLAB (noun adj: flabby): soft loose flesh on someone's body.
I can feel the flab building up around my waist - I must start doing some exercise.

HEAVY (adj): (Am) polite word for fat LARGE (adj): polite word for fat or BIG (Clothes for big people)
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 MATRONLY (adj - esp. humorous): (of a woman) middle-aged, rather fat, and behaving in a serious way.
None of the women he interviewed were suitable for the job - they were either too glamorous or too matronly.

MIDDLE-AGE SPREAD (noun): is a humorous name for the fatness, esp. around the waist, that some people get as they grow older.(esp.men) MUSCULAR (adj adv: muscularly): having a lot of big muscles and being stronglooking.
He is big and muscular. (=SINEWY)

OBESE (adj noun: obesity): (negative) extremely fat, unhealthy, term used by doctors
He is so obese that he has recently had a heart attack.

OVERWEIGHT (adj): (neutral)

I think she should go on a diet, she is definitely overweight.

PLUMP (adj): (generally used for women and children) pleasantly fat, word used to avoid the word fat
A baby with plump little arms and legs. Im too plump to wear that dress.

PODGY (UK) = PUDGY (US) (adj - informal esp. disapproving): short and fat.
He's a horrid little man with piggy eyes and a podgy face.

PORTLY (adj humorous): (esp. of middle-aged or old men) with a fat stomach and chest.
He arrived at the restaurant, a portly figure in a tight-fitting jacket and bow tie.

PUPPY FAT (UK and ANZ informal) (US baby fat): is fat which a child sometimes has, and which disappears as the child grows older. ROLY-POLY (adj - informal humorous): (of people) short and round.
He was a roly-poly sort of man, bulging out of his clothes.

ROTUND (adj): (esp. of a person) round or rounded in shape. SQUAT (adj): unattractively short and thick
An ugly squat tower.

STOCKY (adj): somebody who is short and heavy and looks strong.
He was stockily built (=stocky).

STOUT (noun): (word used for adults) slightly fat and heavy.
She became stout as she grew older.

THICKSET (adj): (esp. of the male human body) wide and short; stocky.
A thickset young man appeared in the doorway.
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 TUBBY (noun - informal): (word used for adults) short and fat, especially around the stomach.
Our chef was a genial, slightly tubby man.

VOLUPTUOUS (adj approving): (esp. of women's bodies) sexually attractive, esp. by having large breasts, hips or lips.
For example a woman with voluptuous curves/hips.

THIN
ANOREXIC (noun adj: anorectic).
In her book she explores the complex and varied reasons which lead some of these women to become anorexic.

THERE IS NOTHING OF SBY

Helen will never succeed in working as a model, there is nothing of her!

BE A BAG OF BONES: extremely thin. The child was just a bag of bones when we found her. BE LIKE A LAMP-POST
My godson is like a lamp-post: he is 1.90m tall and he is only fifteen.

BE LIKE A PIPE CLEANER or SHE IS ALL SKIN AND BONES

Perhaps John is going on a diet; he is like a pipe cleaner.

BE SLIGHT AND SLENDER BE (NOTHING BUT/ALL/JUST) SKIN AND BONES CADAVEROUS (adj): looking pale and thin like a person who is about to die.(Not used) EMACIATED: (negative) extremely thin from lack of food or illness
The news report about the war was shocking as it showed images of emaciated people wandering about. By the time the prisoners were set free, they were terribly emaciated and could hardly walk.

GANGLING (adj): (esp. of a boy or young man) very tall, thin and awkward in his movements.
From a gangling boy he had grown into an elegant young man.

GAUNT (adj): very thin, esp. because of illness or hunger.

Hunger had made her face gaunt and grey.

LANKY (adj): tall and thin and tending to move awkwardly as a result.
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 It was comic to see him trying to get his lanky frame (= body) into that small car.

LEAN: (positive) thin in a strong and healthy way.(Used WITH MEN MAINLY)
My fianc is a footballer, he is lean and athletic. A lean suntanned arm waved at me from a passing car.

LISSOM, LISSOME (adj literary): attractively thin and able to move quickly and gracefully. LITHE (adj): young, healthy, attractive and able to move and bend gracefully.
He had the lithe, athletic body of a ballet dancer.

PETITE: (usually used for women) attractively short and thin

Susan looks so slim and petite in her new Armani dress.

PINCHED (adj): (of someone's face) thin and pale. (associated with malnutrition /lack of food,etc)
He had that pinched look which suggests poverty and undernourishment.

SCRAGGY (adj disapproving): so thin that the bones stick out.

He was wearing a high-necked pullover to hide his scraggy neck.

SCRAWNY (adj): bony and unpleasantly thin; scraggy.

He came home after three months at college looking terribly scrawny. Those sort of tall, scrawny women with graying hair often wear rather austere tweed suits.

SKINNY(adj - informal): unattractively very thin to the point where the bones under the skin are visible
Some teenagers seem to be anorexic; they are skinny. They obviously dont feed their dog properly, he is so skinny.

SLENDER: (usually for woman) having a good figure, well proportioned, often graceful and delicate.
The girl had a beautiful, slender figure.

SLIM: (positive) attractively thin, well proportioned

It shows that Mary takes a lot of exercises, have a look at her slim waist and her slender figure! I wish I was slim enough to wear fashionable clothes.

SVELTE (adj): attractively thin, graceful and stylish.

She claimed that she lost her job in the restaurant when she was pregnant because her boss wanted svelte waitresses, and a pregnant woman is not svelte.

SYLPHLIKE (adj - usually humorous): (of a woman or girl) attractively thin and delicate.
You really need to be sylphlike to wear clothes like that.
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 THIN: general word to describe people who have little or not fat on their bodies TRIM (adj approving): attractively and healthily thin.
You're looking very trim - have you lost weight?

UNDERWEIGHT: (neutral) very thin

The doctor advised my friend to go on a diet to gain weight as she is rather underweight.

WILLOWY (adj approving): (esp. of a woman) graceful and thin.

Clothes always look good on her because she's so tall and willowy.

WIRY (adj): (of people and animals) thin but strong, and often able to bend easily.
Like a lot of good marathon runners he's very wiry.

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