limb
pronunciation
How to pronounce limb in British English:
UK [lɪm]
How to pronounce limb in American English:
US [lɪm]
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- Noun:
- one of the jointed appendages of an animal used for locomotion or grasping: arm; leg; wing; flipper
- any of the main branches arising from the trunk or a bough of a tree
- (astronomy) the circumferential edge of the apparent disc of the sun or the moon or a planet
- either of the two halves of a bow from handle to tip
- the graduated arc that is attached to an instrument for measuring angles
- any projection that is thought to resemble an arm
Word Origin
- limb
- limb: [OE] The Old English word for ‘limb’ was lim. Like thumb, it later (in the 16th century) acquired an intrusive b, which has long since ceased to be pronounced. It has cognates in Swedish and Danish lem, and Dutch lid ‘limb’ is probably related too.
- limb (n.1)
- "part or member," Old English lim "limb, joint, main branch of a tree," from Proto-Germanic *limu- (cognates: Old Norse limr "limb," lim "small branch of a tree"), a variant of *liþu- (source of Old English liþ, Old Frisian lith, Old Norse liðr, Gothic liþus "a limb;" and with prefix ga-, source of German Glied "limb, member"), from PIE root *lei- "to bend, be movable, be nimble." The parasitic -b began to appear late 1500s for no etymological reason (perhaps by influence of limb (n.2)). In Old and Middle English, and until lately in dialects, 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" (1570s). To go out on a limb in figurative sense "enter a risky situation" is from 1897. Life and limb in reference to the body inclusively is from c. 1200.
- limb (n.2)
- late 14c., "edge of a quadrant or other instrument," from Latin limbus "border, hem, fringe, edge," of uncertain origin. Klein suggests cognate with Sanskrit lambate "hangs down," and English limp. But Tucker writes that "the sense appears to be that of something which twists, goes round, or binds ... not of something which hangs loose," and suggests cognates in Lithuanian linta "ribbon," Old Norse linnr "whether." Astronomical sense of "edge of the disk of a heavenly body" first attested 1670s.
Example
- 1. For the first time , the perceived shape of a phantom limb has been measured .
- 2. The image presents an edge-on , or limb view , of the earth 's atmosphere as seen from orbit .
- 3. At lower left , the red spot ( jr. ) is coming around jupiter 's eastern limb .
- 4. Amputees sometimes experience phantom limb sensations , feeling pain , itching or other impulses coming from limbs that no longer exist .
- 5. Phantom-limb pain - when your brain feels pain in a limb that has been amputated - is one kind of central pain .