limb
limb (lim)
noun
- a part that extends from the trunk of a body, as an arm, leg, or wing
- a large branch of a tree
- any projecting part forming an outgrowth or extension from a larger body
- a person or thing regarded as a branch, part, agent, or representative a policeman is a limb of the law
- Chiefly Brit., Informal a naughty child
Etymology: with unhistoric -b < ME lim < OE, akin to ON limr, limb < IE base *(e)lei-, to bend > el(bow)
transitive verb
Rare to dismember; disjoint
out on a limb
☆Informal in a precarious or vulnerable position or situation
limb (lim)
noun
- a border, margin, or edge
- Astron. the apparent outer edge of a celestial object
- Bot. the spreading outer portion of the corolla of certain flowers
Etymology: Fr limbe, orig., limbo < ML(Ec) limbus < L: see limbo
limb
n.
Converse of object
- amputate: We can measure his heart rhythms, take his blood pressure and even amputate a limb.
- sever: Not strictly true, we aren't going to send you a cardboard box of severed limbs.
- ache: To shuffle on with aching limbs Each burning step repeating " Who dares wins " !
- flail: He is little changed from his Roses days - combat trousers, Adidas trainers, concave cheeks, flailing simian limbs.
- dismember: There were people walking around with dismembered limbs and blood- covered faces.
- paralyze: Some people cannot see or have paralyzed limbs, yet maintain that they are not disabled in any way.
Adjective modifier
- prosthetic: They have physiotherapy, often have prosthetic limbs fitted & learn how to use them.
- hind: In fact, its strong hind limbs suggest it normally walked on two legs with its tail held aloft.
- artificial: Someone who has lost a leg just below the hip will be 80 % disabled, however well they manage with an artificial limb.
- phantom: Anecdotal evidence suggests that pain can be reduced by activity in the brain involved in imagined movement of the phantom limb.
- affected: Relief of ' rest pain ' at night is achieved by hanging the affected limb down over the side of the bed.
- upper: Each year 400,000 people suffer from upper limb or neck disorders.
Modifies a noun
- amputation: Several soldiers needed intensive care, with brain or spinal injuries or limb amputations, including at least eight of yesterday's arrivals.
- ischaemia: There were few complications reported related to limb ischaemia.
- deformity: Some congenital peripheral neuropathies ( those present at birth ) can cause limb deformities.
- salvage: The series had a limb salvage rate of 80 % , which was associated with a better quality of life than major amputation.
- amputee: There are about a dozen or so lower limb amputees so far established on osseointegration there, but itâs still early daysâ .
- disorder: Over 1 million people have back pain or upper limb disorders.
Noun used with modifier
Let them bestow on every airth a limb, Then open all my veins that I may swim To thee, my Maker, in that crimson lake; Then place my parboiled head upon a stake, Scatter my ashes, strew them in the airö Lord! since thou knowest where all these atoms are, I'm hopeful thou'lt recover once my dust, And confident thou'lt raise me with the just.
Truth indeed came once into the world with her divine Master, and was a perfect shape most glorious to look on: buta wicked race of deceiverstook the virgin Truth, hewed her lovely formintoathousand pieces, and scattered them to the four winds. From that time ever since, the sad friends of Truth, such as durst appear, imitating the careful search that Isis made for the mangled bodyof Osiris, went up and down gathering up limb by limb, still as they could find them.We have not yet found them allnor ever shall do, till her Master's second coming; he shall bring together every joint and member, and shall mould them into an immortal feature of loveliness and perfection.
For Spirits when they please Can either sex assume, or both; so soft And uncompounded is their essence pure, Not tied or manacled with joint or limb, Nor founded on the brittle strength of bones, Like cumbrous flesh; but in what shape they choose Dilated or condensed, bright or obscure, Can execute their airy purposes, And works of love or enmity fulfil.
Man is all symmetry, Full of proportions, one limb to another.
Browse dictionary entries near limb
- limacine
- lima bean
- Lima
- LIM
- lily-white
- lily pad
- lily of the valley
- lily-livered
- lily
- lilt
- limbate
- limbed
- limber
- limbers
- limbic system
- limbo
- Limburg
- Limburger (cheese)
- limbus
- lime
