limit definition | Dictionary.com

lim⋅it

[lim-it]

–noun

1.	the final, utmost, or furthest boundary or point as to extent, amount, continuance, procedure, etc.: the limit of his experience; the limit of vision.

2.	a boundary or bound, as of a country, area, or district.

Mathematics.

a.	a number such that the value of a given function remains arbitrarily close to this number when the independent variable is sufficiently close to a specified point or is sufficiently large. The limit of 1/x is zero as x approaches infinity; the limit of (x − 1)² is zero as x approaches 1.

b.	a number such that the absolute value of the difference between terms of a given sequence and the number approaches zero as the index of the terms increases to infinity.

c.	one of two numbers affixed to the integration symbol for a definite integral, indicating the interval or region over which the integration is taking place and substituted in a primitive, if one exists, to evaluate the integral.

4.	limits, the premises or region enclosed within boundaries: We found them on school limits after hours.

5.	Games. the maximum sum by which a bet may be raised at any one time.

6.	the limit, Informal. something or someone that exasperates, delights, etc., to an extreme degree: You have made errors before, but this is the limit.

–verb (used with object)

7.	to restrict by or as if by establishing limits (usually fol. by to): Please limit answers to 25 words.

8.	to confine or keep within limits: to limit expenditures.

9.	Law. to fix or assign definitely or specifically.

Origin:
1325–75; ME lymyt < L līmit- (s. of līmes) boundary, path between fields

Related forms:

lim⋅it⋅a⋅ble, adjective

lim⋅it⋅a⋅ble⋅ness, noun

Synonyms:
2. confine, frontier, border. 8. restrain, bound.

Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2009.
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Link To limit

lim·it (lĭm'ĭt)

The point, edge, or line beyond which something cannot or may not proceed.
limits The boundary surrounding a specific area; bounds: within the city limits.
A confining or restricting object, agent, or influence.
The greatest or least amount, number, or extent allowed or possible: a withdrawal limit of $200; no minimum age limit.
Games The largest amount which may be bet at one time in games of chance.
Abbr. lim Mathematics A number or point L that is approached by a function f(x) as x approaches a if, for every positive number ε, there exists a number δ such that |f(x)-L| < ε if 0 < |x-a| < δ. Also called limit point, point of accumulation.
Informal One that approaches or exceeds certain limits, as of credibility, forbearance, or acceptability: He is the limit of irresponsibility.

tr.v. lim·it·ed, lim·it·ing, lim·its

To confine or restrict within a boundary or bounds.
To fix definitely; to specify.

[Middle English limite, from Old French, border, from Latin līmes, līmit-, border, limit.]
lim'it·a·ble adj.

Synonyms: These verbs mean to establish or keep within specified bounds. Limit refers principally to the establishment of a maximum beyond which a person or thing cannot or may not go: The Constitution limits the President's term of office to four years.
To restrict is to keep within prescribed limits, as of choice or action: The sale of alcoholic beverages is restricted to those over 21.
Confine suggests imprisonment, restraint, or impediment: The children were confined to the nursery.
Circumscribe connotes an encircling or surrounding line that confines, especially narrowly: "A man . . . should not circumscribe his activity by any inflexible fence of rigid rules" (John Stuart Blackie).

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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Limit

Lim"it\ (l[i^]m"[i^]t), n. [From L. limes, limitis: cf. F. limite; or from E. limit, v. See Limit, v. t.]

1. That which terminates, circumscribes, restrains, or confines; the bound, border, or edge; the utmost extent; as, the limit of a walk, of a town, of a country; the limits of human knowledge or endeavor.

As eager of the chase, the maid Beyond the forest's verdant limits strayed. --Pope.

2. The space or thing defined by limits.

The archdeacon hath divided it Into three limits very equally. --Shak.

3. That which terminates a period of time; hence, the period itself; the full time or extent.

The dateless limit of thy dear exile. --Shak.

The limit of your lives is out. --Shak.

4. A restriction; a check; a curb; a hindrance.

I prithee, give no limits to my tongue. --Shak.

5. (Logic & Metaph.) A determining feature; a distinguishing characteristic; a differentia.

6. (Math.) A determinate quantity, to which a variable one continually approaches, and may differ from it by less than any given difference, but to which, under the law of variation, the variable can never become exactly equivalent.

Elastic limit. See under Elastic.

Prison limits, a definite extent of space in or around a prison, within which a prisoner has liberty to go and come.

Syn: Boundary; border; edge; termination; restriction; bound; confine.

Limit

Lim"it\ (l[i^]m"[i^]t), v. t. [imp. & p. p. Limited; p. pr. & vb. n. Limiting.] [F. limiter, L. limitare, fr. limes, limitis, limit; prob. akin to limen threshold, E. eliminate; cf. L. limus sidelong.] To apply a limit to, or set a limit for; to terminate, circumscribe, or restrict, by a limit or limits; as, to limit the acreage of a crop; to limit the issue of paper money; to limit one's ambitions or aspirations; to limit the meaning of a word.

Limiting parallels (Astron.), those parallels of latitude between which only an occultation of a star or planet by the moon, in a given case, can occur.

Limit

Lim"it\, v. i. To beg, or to exercise functions, within a certain limited region; as, a limiting friar. [Obs.]

Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary, © 1996, 1998 MICRA, Inc.
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Language Translation for : limit

Spanish: límite,

German: die Grenze,

Japanese: 限度

More Translations »

limit (n.)

c.1375, "boundary, frontier," from O.Fr. limite "a boundary," from L. limitem (nom. limes) "a boundary, embankment between fields, border," related to limen "threshold." Colloquial sense of "the very extreme, the greatest degree imaginable" is from 1904. The verb is c.1380, from O.Fr. limiter, from L. limitare "to bound, limit, fix," from limes. In British company names, Limited (abbrev. Ltd.), 1855, is short for limited liability company, one in which the liability of partners is limited, usually to the amount of their capital investment.

limit lim·it (lĭm'ĭt)
n.

The point, edge, or line beyond which something cannot or may not proceed.
A confining or restricting object, agent, or influence.
The greatest or least amount, number, or extent allowed or possible.

v. lim·it·ed, lim·it·ing, lim·its

To confine or restrict within a boundary or bounds.
To fix definitely; to specify.

lim'it·a·ble adj.

limit (lĭm'ĭt) Pronunciation Key
A number or point for which, from a given set of numbers or points, one can choose an arbitrarily close number or point. For example, for the set of all real numbers greater than zero and less than one, the numbers one and zero are limit points, since one can pick a number from the set arbitrarily close to one or zero (even though one and zero are not themselves in the set). Limits form the basis for calculus, where a number L is defined to be the limit approached by a function f(x) as x approaches a if, for every positive number ε, there exists a number δ such that |f(x)-L| < ε if 0 < |x-a| < δ.

limit

see go whole hog (the limit); sky's the limit; the limit.

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