Rail thin

[Bushwhacker]

When referring to the look of someone, what does it mean a "rail thin" person? Mybe a very lean one? Are there any more nuances on it?

Thanks a lot :up:

 

[beascarpetta]

When referring to the look of someone, what does it mean a "rail thin" person? Mybe a very lean one? Are there any more nuances on it?

Thanks a lot :up:

for to be as thin as a rail you might just as well use
to be as thin as a rake which is more common in BEor to be as thin as a stick

all of the above mean to be very thin indeed

another one I just remembered to be used only if you are talking about girls
would be
waif-like

as in waif-like supermodels (bordering on anorexic)
hope this helps.

 

[BobK]

:UP: I haven't heard that one ("rail thin") nearly as commonly as 'thin as a rake' - although it sounds to me as if it could be older. My wife uses the term 'stick-insect' to refer to those models (http://funkman.org/animal/insect/stickinsect.jpg), though I wouldn't say it's an idiom (yet) - she probably got it from a life-style magazine, and it's the sort of jokey image that often becomes popular enoguh to become idiomatic.

b

 

[vil]

Hi Bushwhacker,
thin as a rail (idiom)

very slender, as in

I do not know why she's dieting; she's thin as a rail already.

This simile, which uses rail in the sense of "a narrow bar," has largely replaced such other versions as thin as a lath or rake, although the latter is still common in Britain.

Regards.

V.