Legs

On his legs. Mr. So-and-So is on his legs, has risen to make a speech.

On its last legs. Moribund; obsolete; ready to fall out of cognisance.

To set on his legs. So to provide for one that he is able to earn his living without further help.

To stand on one’s own legs. To be independent: to be earning one’s own living. Of course, the allusion is to being nursed, and standing “alone.” (See Bottom.)

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Entry taken from Dictionary of Phrase and Fable, edited by the Rev. E. Cobham Brewer, LL.D. and revised in 1895.