limp
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limp¹
- /lɪmp/
Rhymes with -ɪmp
Where it comes from
From Middle English limpen (“to fall short”), from Old English limpan, from Proto-West Germanic *limpan, from Proto-Germanic *limpaną (“to hang down”), from Proto-Indo-European *(s)lemb-, *(s)lembʰ- (“to hang loosely, hang limply”).
Cognate with Low German lumpen (“to limp”), Middle High German limpfen (“to hobble, limp”), dialectal German lampen (“to hang down loosely”), Icelandic limpa (“limpness, weakness”).
verb limps · limping · limped
- To walk lamely, as if favoring one leg. Dirk Kuyt sandwiched a goal in between Carroll's double as City endured a night of total misery, with captain Carlos Tevez limping off early on with a hamstring strain that puts a serious question mark over his participation in Saturday's FA Cup semi-final against Manchester United at Wembley.
- To travel with a malfunctioning system of propulsion. The bomber limped home on one engine.
- To move or proceed irregularly. limping verses
- To call, particularly in an unraised pot pre-flop.
noun limps
- An irregular, jerky or awkward gait. She walks with a limp.
- A scraper for removing poor ore or refuse from the sieve.
limp²
- /lɪmp/
Rhymes with -ɪmp
Where it comes from
From Middle English *limp, *lemp, from Old English *lemp (recorded only in compound lemphealt (“limping”), from Proto-West Germanic *limpan, from Proto-Germanic *limpaną (“to hang down”), from Proto-Indo-European *(s)lemb-, *(s)lembʰ- (“to hang loosely, hang limply”). Cognate with German lampecht (“flaccid, limp”), Icelandic lempinn, lempiligur (“pliable, gentle”). See above.
adjective limper · limpest
- Flaccid; flabby, resembling flesh.
- Lacking stiffness; floppy, flimsy. a limp rope
- Soft; weak, especially physically. Another line-out was stolen, and when the ball was sent left Clerc stepped and spun through limp challenges from Wilkinson, Chris Ashton and Foden to dive over and make it 11-0.
- Not erect.
- Not having an erection.
verb limps · limping · limped
- To be inadequate or unsatisfactory.
noun limps
- A scraper of board or sheet-iron shaped like half the head of a small cask, used for scraping the ore off the sieve in the operation of hand-jigging.
limp³
- /lɪmp/
Rhymes with -ɪmp
Where it comes from
From Middle English limpen, from Old English limpan (“to happen, occur, exist, belong to, suit, befit, concern”).
Cognate with Scots limp (“to chance to be, come”), Middle Dutch limpen (“to happen”), Middle Low German gelimpen (“to moderate, treat mildly”), Middle High German limfen (“to suit, become”).
verb limps · limping · lamp · limped · lump
- To happen; befall; chance.
- To come upon; meet.
limp⁴
- /lɪmp/
Rhymes with -ɪmp
phrase Limp
- Acronym of Louis XIV, James II, Queen Mary of Modena and the Prince of Wales (a code-word among Jacobites)Louis XIV To intimidate the people, you drew up Resolves, and an Address to his Majesty, founded on evidence from Governor Barnard, the Commissioners of Revenue, Custom-house Officers, and a few poor, expectant and dependent creatures, whom your Limp corresponds with in Boston; and thereby, having imposed upo
