| 释义 |
limmer, n. and a. Sc. and north. dial.|ˈlɪmə(r)|
Also 5 lymmare, 6 lymare, -er, lymmar, 6–7 limmar, lymber, lymmer.
[Of obscure origin; connexion with limb n. is possible.]
A. n.
†1. A rogue, scoundrel. Obs.
1456Sir G. Haye Law of Armys (S.T.S.) 233/24 Ane unworthy lymmare, that settis nocht for honour bot for pillery. c1470Henryson Mor. Fab. v. (Parl. Beasts) xli, [To the fox] ‘Byde’, quod the lioun; ‘limmer, let ws see Gif it be suthe the sillie ȝow hes said.’ 1536Bellenden Cron. Scot. (1821) I. p. lxiv, He causit hir to be schamfully defowlit with rebaldis and limmaris of his cuntre. 1596Dalrymple tr. Leslie's Hist. Scot. ix. 219 Adam Scot special bordirer and limmer, commounlie calit king of traytouris. 1602Jas. VI Let. to Eliz. (Camden) 147 The repreasing of fugitiues and lymmeries [sic]. 1607Sc. Acts Jas. VI (1816) IV. 379/2 That Insolent and wicked race and name of the glengregour and notorious lymberis and malefactouris. 1637B. Jonson Sad Sheph. ii. i, Fowle Limmer! drittie Louwne! 1828Scott F.M. Perth iv, There have been a proper set of limmers about to scale your windows, father Simon.
2. Applied to a woman.
a. A light woman; a strumpet.
b. In weaker sense: A jade, hussy, minx.
1566Durham Depos. (Surtees) 83 In causa diffamacionis, viz. that his wyf was a lymer. 1728Ramsay Last Sp. Miser viii, I wore nae frizzl'd limmer's hair. 1786Burns Twa Dogs 182 Except for breakin o' their timmer Or speakin lightly o' their limmer. 1814Scott Wav. lxiii, Kate and Matty, the limmers, gaed aff wi' twa o' Hawley's dragoons, and I hae twa new queans instead o' them. 1851Borrow Lavengro lxxxv. (1900) 460 Leave my husband in the hands of you and that limmer, who has never been true to us. 1897Crockett Lad's Love xiii. 141 ‘Oh—the limmer—how dared she’, cried my mother, on fire instantly at the hint of an insult or rejection to her eldest son.
B. adj. Knavish, scoundrelly.
1500–20Dunbar Poems xxvii. 9 With mony lymmar loun. 1562A. Scott Poems (S.T.S.) i. 53 For lymmer lawdis and litle lassis lo. 1637B. Jonson Sad Sheph. ii. i, Hence with 'hem, limmer lowne, Thy vermin, and thy selfe, thy selfe art one. a1785Rookhope Ryde iv. in Child Ballads III. 439 Limmer thieves drives them away.
Hence † limmerful a., knavish; † limmery, knavery.
1500–20Dunbar Poems xvi. 152 Thy lymmerfull luke wald fle thame. 1567Gude & Godlie Ball. (S.T.S.) 206 The lymmerie lang hes lestit. |