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What is "to stand on one's own legs"

The Collaborative International Dictionary
To stand on one's own legs

Leg \Leg\ (l[e^]g), n. [Icel. leggr; akin to Dan. l[ae]g calf of the leg, Sw. l["a]gg.]

  1. A limb or member of an animal used for supporting the body, and in running, climbing, and swimming; esp., that part of the limb between the knee and foot.

  2. That which resembles a leg in form or use; especially, any long and slender support on which any object rests; as, the leg of a table; the leg of a pair of compasses or dividers.

  3. The part of any article of clothing which covers the leg; as, the leg of a stocking or of a pair of trousers.

  4. A bow, esp. in the phrase to make a leg; probably from drawing the leg backward in bowing. [Obs.]

    He that will give a cap and make a leg in thanks for a favor he never received.
    --Fuller.

  5. A disreputable sporting character; a blackleg. [Slang, Eng.]

  6. (Naut.) The course and distance made by a vessel on one tack or between tacks.

  7. (Steam Boiler) An extension of the boiler downward, in the form of a narrow space between vertical plates, sometimes nearly surrounding the furnace and ash pit, and serving to support the boiler; -- called also water leg.

  8. (Grain Elevator) The case containing the lower part of the belt which carries the buckets.

  9. (Cricket) A fielder whose position is on the outside, a little in rear of the batter.

  10. (Math.) Either side of a triangle distinguished from the base or, in a right triangle, from the hypotenuse; also, an indefinitely extending branch of a curve, as of a hyperbola.

  11. (Telephony) A branch or lateral circuit connecting an instrument with the main line.

  12. (Elec.) A branch circuit; one phase of a polyphase system.

    A good leg (Naut.), a course sailed on a tack which is near the desired course.

    Leg bail, escape from custody by flight. [Slang]

    Legs of an hyperbola (or other curve) (Geom.), the branches of the curve which extend outward indefinitely.

    Legs of a triangle, the sides of a triangle; -- a name seldom used unless one of the sides is first distinguished by some appropriate term; as, the hypothenuse and two legs of a right-angled triangle.

    On one's legs, standing to speak.

    On one's last legs. See under Last.

    To have legs (Naut.), to have speed.

    To stand on one's own legs, to support one's self; to be independent.