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limb

 - 10 dictionary results

limb

1  [lim]
–noun
1. a part or member of an animal body distinct from the head and trunk, as a leg, arm, or wing: the lower limbs; artificial limbs.
2. a large or main branch of a tree.
3. a projecting part or member: the four limbs of a cross.
4. a person or thing regarded as a part, member, branch, offshoot, or scion of something: a limb of the central committee.
5. Archery. the upper or lower part of a bow.
6. Informal. a mischievous child, imp, or young scamp.
–verb (used with object)
7. to cut the limbs from (a felled tree).
—Idiom
8. out on a limb, in a dangerous or compromising situation; vulnerable: The company overextended itself financially and was soon out on a limb.
Use limb in a Sentence
Origin:
bef. 900; ME, OE lim; akin to ON lim foliage, limr limb, līmi rod, L līmus aslant, līmen threshold

Related forms:
limbless, adjective

Synonyms:
1. extremity. 2. See branch.

limb

2  [lim]
–noun
1. Astronomy. the edge of the disk of the sun, a moon, or a planet.
2. the graduated edge of a quadrant or similar instrument.
3. Botany.
a. the upper spreading part of a gamopetalous corolla.
b. the expanded portion of a petal, sepal, or leaf.
Origin:
1350–1400; ME < L limbus; see limbus 2 , limbo 1
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2010.
Cite This Source Link To limb
limb 1   (lĭm)   
n.  

  1. One of the larger branches of a tree.

  2. One of the jointed appendages of an animal, such as an arm, leg, wing, or flipper, used for locomotion or grasping.

  3. An extension or a projecting part, as of a building or mountain range.

  4. One that is considered to be an extension, member, or representative of a larger body or group.

  5. Informal An impish child.

tr.v.   limbed, limb·ing, limbs
To dismember.

[Alteration (probably influenced by limb2) of Middle English lim, from Old English.]
limb 2   (lĭm)   
n.  

  1. Astronomy The circumferential edge of the apparent disk of a celestial body.

  2. Mathematics The edge of a graduated arc or circle used in an instrument to measure angles.

  3. Botany The expanded tip of a plant organ, such as a petal or corolla lobe.


[Middle English, graduated edge of an astronomical instrument, from Old French limbe, from Latin limbus, border.]
The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
Copyright © 2009 by Houghton Mifflin Company.
Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
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Word Origin & History

limb  (1)
O.E. lim "limb, joint, main branch of a tree," from P.Gmc. *limu- (cf. O.N. limr "limb," lim "small branch of a tree"), a variant of *liþu- (cf. O.E. liþ, O.Fris. lith, O.N. liðr, Goth. liþus "a limb;" with prefix ga-, source of Ger. glied "limb, member"), from PIE base *lei- "to bend, be movable, be nimble." The parasitic -b began to appear late 1500s for no reason. In O.E., M.E., and until lately in dial., it could mean "any visible body part."
"The lymmes of generacion were shewed manyfestly." [Caxton, "The subtyl historyes and fables of Esope, Auyan, Alfonce, and Poge," 1484]
Hence, limb-lifter "fornicator" (1579). To go out on a limb in figurative sense is from 1897. Life and limb in ref. to the body inclusively is from c.1205.

limb  (2)
1593, "edge of a quadrant or other instrument," from L. limbus "border, hem, fringe, edge," cognate with Skt. lambate "hangs down," Eng. limp. Astronomical sense of "edge of the disk of a heavenly body" first attested 1677.
Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2001 Douglas Harper
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Medical Dictionary

Main Entry: limb
Pronunciation: 'lim
Function: noun
1 : one of the projecting paired appendages (as an arm, wing, fin, or parapodium) of an animalbody made up of diverse tissues (as epithelium, muscle, and bone) derived from two or more germ layers and concerned especially with movement and grasping but sometimes modified into sensory or sexualorgans; especially : a human leg or arm
2 : a branch or arm of something (as an anatomical part) limb of Henle's loop>
Merriam-Webster's Medical Dictionary, © 2002 Merriam-Webster, Inc.
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limb (lĭm)
n.

  1. One of the paired jointed extremities of the body; an arm or a leg.

  2. A segment of such a jointed structure.

The American Heritage® Stedman's Medical Dictionary
Copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Company.
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Science Dictionary
limb   (lĭm)  Pronunciation Key 

  1. One of the appendages of an animal, such as an arm of a starfish, the flipper of dolphins, or the arm and leg of a human, used for locomotion or grasping.

  2. The expanded tip of a plant organ, such as a petal or corolla lobe.

  3. The circumferential edge of the apparent disk of a celestial body.


The American Heritage® Science Dictionary
Copyright © 2002. Published by Houghton Mifflin. All rights reserved.
Cite This Source
Idioms & Phrases

limb

see out on a limb; risk life and limb.

The American Heritage® Dictionary of Idioms by Christine Ammer.
Copyright © 1997. Published by Houghton Mifflin.
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