[lim-boh] 
| 1. | (often initial capital letter ) Roman Catholic Theology. a region on the border of hell or heaven, serving as the abode after death of unbaptized infants (limbo of infants) and of the righteous who died before the coming of Christ (limbo of the fathers or limbo of the patriarchs). |
| 2. | a place or state of oblivion to which persons or things are regarded as being relegated when cast aside, forgotten, past, or out of date: My youthful hopes are in the limbo of lost dreams. |
| 3. | an intermediate, transitional, or midway state or place. |
| 4. | a place or state of imprisonment or confinement. |
[lim-boh] | a dance from the West Indies, originally for men only, in which the dancer bends backward from the knees and moves with a shuffling step under a horizontal bar that is lowered after each successive pass. |
| lim·bo 1 (lĭm'bō) n. pl. lim·bos
[Middle English, from Medieval Latin (in) limbō, (in) Limbo, ablative of limbus, Limbo, from Latin, border.] Word History: Our use of the word limbo to refer to states of oblivion, confinement, or transition is derived from the theological sense of Limbo as a place where souls remain that cannot enter heaven, for example, unbaptized infants. Limbo in Roman Catholic theology is located on the border of Hell, which explains the name chosen for it. The Latin word limbus, having meanings such as "an ornamental border to a fringe" and "a band or girdle," was chosen by Christian theologians of the Middle Ages to denote this border region. English borrowed the word limbus directly, but the form that caught on in English, limbo, first recorded in a work composed around 1378, is from the ablative form of limbus, the form that would be used in expressions such as in limbō, "in Limbo." |
| lim·bo 2 (lĭm'bō) n. pl. lim·bos A West Indian dance in which the dancers keep bending over backward and passing under a pole that is lowered slightly each time. [Probably ultimately of African origin.] |
In the teaching of the Roman Catholic Church regarding the afterlife, the condition of innocent persons who die without benefit of baptism; those in limbo do not suffer damnation, but they do not enjoy the presence of God. Limbo means “a bordering place.”
Note: Figuratively, “limbo” is a state of nonresolution or uncertainty: “Until he receives notice of his new posting, he'll be in limbo.”
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lumbo
[ˈləmbo] and [ˈlɪmbo] and limbo
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