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out on a limb

 - 5 dictionary results

limb

1  [lim]
Use out on a limb in a Sentence
–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.
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.
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2009.
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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.
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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Medical Dictionary

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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Idioms & Phrases

out on a limb

In a difficult, awkward, or vulnerable position, as in I lodged a complaint about low salaries, but the people who had supported me left me out on a limb. This expression alludes to an animal climbing out on the limb of a tree and then being afraid or unable to retreat. [Late 1800s]

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