Origin:
1560–70; back formation from obsolete limphault lame; Old English lemphealt limping (see halt²); akin to Middle High German limpfen to limp

Related forms

limp·er, noun

limp·ing·ly, adverb

Example Sentences

But as dozens of limp young girls at the front of the room were pulled up to.

It's the country's best but a limp rag by world standards, although now with many feeds from the international press.

Fiat's limp shares perked up on news of his departure.

EXPAND

But as dozens of limp young girls at the front of the room were pulled up to.

It's the country's best but a limp rag by world standards, although now with many feeds from the international press.

Fiat's limp shares perked up on news of his departure.

His left hand was swollen and oozing pus, forcing him to limp on his three good.

But the seeds swimming in a fetid pool of neon-orange slime were limp and lifeless.

Perhaps this individual had an injury that caused it to limp or take an irregular gait.

The high-temperature silicon covering the bar rollers has melted and is now squishing out of the machine in a limp ruin.

The dog was crossing a manhole cover when he suddenly lifted his paws, yelped in pain and went limp in the dog walker's arms.

Thirteen surgeries later, he could walk again, with a limp and a cane.

Or he could limp on for a while, as head of a minority government.

They compare its effects to yanking repeatedly on a tightly coiled spring until it goes limp.

And, of course, that stops you dead until you jump over the dead battery and limp home.

His distraught family pricked the limp body of their firstborn with needles to try to stimulate a response.

For one thing, it's been all about the tongue, that exposed sensory muscle lying limp in our mouth.

They fill the void and are easy to eat, but they always seem pretty limp.

But the day will come when the objects of your enthusiam will suddenly go limp in your hand.

With too little hard currency to back it, in the past few months the dong went limp in the black market.

After a few minutes of recovery, he was able to limp away, helped by friends and brothers.

Spohn ambles with a limp across a newly cleared patch of an old pecan grove that will house the gleaming redoubt.

Every time he walked off the mound, the limp seemed to get worse.

Simply put, many small towns are mere years away from extinction, while others limp along in a weakened and disabled state.

So the government could limp on for months, with two years of its five-year term still to go.

Captain and crew were able to limp to a river mouth to patch their vessel.

If you have a rough landing and you've got one broken ankle, you can limp off the plane.

Her limp frame collapses to the ground as he stands over her with his gun drawn and pointed at her head.

As the peace talks limp on, the insurgency is getting stronger.

My shepherd took so many blows he had a limp afterward for days.

Davies-Keiller thinks nonwovens can do everything that the standard, limp collection of threads does for.

Airlines are making increasing demands as airports limp along on stopgap federal financing.

We never recovered the first bashing of the banks as they still limp back home in the hands of the taxpayers.

It is not that they want the war to limp on forever.

She ran off, flailing the limp trophy as if she were flagging down the ice cream man.

His right hind foot was turned out and he had a marked limp.

He even affects a limp in emulation of the poet's club foot.

Then again, when he began training a year ago, he could not limp from one street light to the next.

Those who have tried to thaw frozen heads of lettuce know that the results are typically soggy and limp.

Unfortunately the film goes limp at about mid-point.

The camera follows her expectantly, as if awaiting some revelation from a silent sigh or an imperceptible limp.

He insists he lost his limp days ago, but his gait still holds a limp's echo.

And for many it will crash into the consciousness and leave the emotions limp.

But allowing weaker banks to limp along is not a positive for the broader banking system.

Stir in the onion, and cook until the onion is limp and completely translucent, about.

COLLAPSE

Dictionary.com Unabridged

adjective, -er, -est.

lacking stiffness or firmness, as of substance, fiber, structure, or bodily frame: a limp body.

lacking vitality; weary; tired; fatigued: Limp with exhaustion, she dropped into the nearest chair.

without firmness, force, energy, etc., as of character: limp, spiritless prose.

flexible; not stiff or rigid: a Bible in a limp leather binding.

Origin:
1700–10; perhaps < Scandinavian; compare Icelandic limpa slackness, limpilegur soft, flabby

Related forms

limp·ly, adverb

limp·ness, noun

Synonyms
1. flabby, flaccid, soft. 2, 3. feeble, weak.

Link To LIMP

Collins

World English Dictionary

limp¹ (lɪmp)

—vb
1.	to walk with an uneven step, esp with a weak or injured leg
2.	to advance in a labouring or faltering manner

—n
3.	an uneven walk or progress

[C16: probably a back formation from obsolete limphalt lame, from Old English lemphealt; related to Middle High German limpfen to limp]

'limper¹

—n

'limping¹

—*adj*, —n

'limpingly¹

—*adv*

limp² (lɪmp)

—*adj*
1.	not firm or stiff
2.	not energetic or vital
3.	(of the binding of a book) not stiffened with boards

[C18: probably of Scandinavian origin; related to Icelandic limpa looseness]

'limply²

—*adv*

'limpness²

—n

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 10th Edition
2009 © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins
Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009
Cite This Source

Etymonline

Word Origin & History

limp

c.1400, of uncertain origin, probably from O.E. lemphealt "halting, lame, limping," which has a lone cognate in the rare M.H.G. limphin, and probably ult. is from PIE base *lomb- "slack, loose, to hang down" (cf. Skt. lambate "hangs down," L. limbus "hem, border," M.H.G. lampen "to hang down").

EXPAND

limp

1706, "flaccid, drooping," of obscure origin, perhaps related to limp (v.).

COLLAPSE

American Heritage

Medical Dictionary

limp (lĭmp)
n.
An irregular, jerky, or awkward gait; a claudication. v. limped, limp·ing, limps
To walk lamely, especially with irregularity, as if favoring one leg.

FOLDOC

Computing Dictionary

LIMP definition

["Messages in Typed Languages", J. Hunt et al, SIGPLAN Notices 14(1):27-45 (Jan 1979)].

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Matching Quote

"America fears the unshaven legs, the unshaven men's cheeks, the aroma of perspiration, and the limp prick. Above all it fears the limp prick."

-Walter Abish

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