limbon.1
/ˈlɪmbəʊ/, U.S. /ˈlɪmboʊ/ 1. † c. used gen. for: Hell, Hades. Obsolete.
a. A region supposed to exist on the border of Hell as the abode of the just who died before Christ's coming, and of unbaptized infants.More explicitly limbo patrum, limbo infantum or of the infants: see limbus n.
ΘΚΠ
the world > the supernatural > deity > hell > [noun] > region bordering
limboa1400
limbusc1440
limbc1450
bolge1881
1377 W. Langland Piers Plowman B. xvi. 84 The deuel..Bar hem forth boldely..And made of holy men his horde in lymbo inferni.]
a1400 St. Erkenwolde 291 in Horstm. Altengl. Leg. (1881) 272 Quene þou herghedes helle-hole & hentes hom þer-oute,..oute of limbo, þou laftes me þer.
c1450 Mirour Saluacioun 198 How crist entred hell To glad our haly fadres in Lymbo as clerkes tell.
1484 W. Caxton tr. G. de la Tour-Landry Bk. Knight of Tower (1971) xlv. 67 After her deth she [sc. Eve]..fylle in a derke and obscure pryson..that was the lymbo of helle.
a1500 (a1460) Towneley Plays (1994) I. xxv. 329 Lymbo is lorne, alas!
a1500 (a1460) Towneley Plays (1994) I. xxv. 326 Thyse lurdans that in lymbo dwell.
1526 W. Bonde Pylgrimage of Perfection ii. sig. Oiiiiv After their dethe they went to lymbo patrum, a place of derkenes nye to hell.
1528 W. Tyndale Obed. Christen Man To Rdr. f. xix Of what texte thou provest hell, will a nother prove purgatory, a nother lymbo patrum.
1605 T. Heywood If you know not Me sig. D4 I am freed from Lymbo to be sent to hell.
a1658 J. Cleveland Wks. (1687) 81 'Tis a just Idea of a Limbo of the Infants.
1749 J. Wesley Wks. (1872) X. 101 In what condition were they [the Old Testament Saints] while thus detained in limbo?
1818 T. Moore Fudge Family in Paris 57 Souls in Limbo, damn'd half way.
1857–8 E. H. Sears Athanasia xviii. 163 If a spiritual body is desirable at all, why are the saints kept waiting for it in limbo?
b. in extended use (see quots.).
ΚΠ
1643 Sir T. Browne Religio Medici (authorized ed.) i. §54 Methinks amongst those many subdivisions of Hell, there might have been one Limbo left for these. View more context for this quotation
1667 J. Milton Paradise Lost iii. 495 All these upwhirld aloft Fly o're the backside of the World farr off Into a Limbo large and broad, since calld The Paradise of Fools. View more context for this quotation
1712 J. Addison Spectator No. 297. ¶7 The Picture which he [sc. Milton] draws of the Lymbo of Vanity.
1851 T. Carlyle Life J. Sterling ii. viii. 241 As yet my books are lying as ghost books, in a limbo on the banks of a certain Bristolian Styx.
ΘΚΠ
the world > the supernatural > deity > hell > [noun]
helleOE
hellOE
perditiona1382
perishingc1384
welling woea1400
hellwardc1400
Topheta1425
gehenne1481
to devilwardc1550
limbo1581
Averna1592
Hades1597
Sheol1599
other place1604
underworld1608
infernals1613
gehenna1623
lower world1639
netherworld1640
pandemonium1667
subterrenea1711
diablerie1776
inferno1834
ballyhooly1837
nether region1839
Sam Hill1839
Ballyhack1843
tunket1871
bogydom1880
1581 T. Howell His Deuises sig. D.iijv And let my Ghost in Lymbo lowe be led, To Tantals thyrst, or prowde Ixions wheele.
1582 R. Stanyhurst tr. Virgil First Foure Bookes Æneis ii. 33 And with hoat assalting too Limbo we plunged a number [L. multos demittimus Orco].
1612 W. Symonds Proc. Eng. Colonie Virginia v. 30 in J. Smith Map of Virginia These vninhabited Iles which (for the extremitie of gusts, thunder, raine, stormes, and il weather) we called Limbo.
1634 W. Tirwhyt tr. J. L. G. de Balzac Lett. 270 She hath filled Limbo with her paricidiall leachery.
1637 in T. Morton New Eng. Canaan iii. xvii. 147 Minos, Eacus, and Radamand, Princes of Limbo.
2. transferred and figurative.
a. Prison, confinement, durance; also, †pawn. slang.
ΘΚΠ
society > authority > punishment > imprisonment > [noun]
prisonOE
wardc1290
prisoning1344
keepingc1384
imprisonment1389
prisonment1422
jail1447
fasteningc1460
warding1497
firmancea1522
incarcerationc1540
imprisoningc1542
limbo1590
limbus?a1600
endurance1610
jailing1622
restraint1829
carceration1870
holiday1901
Paddy Doyle1919
bird1924
society > trade and finance > financial dealings > borrowing money > [noun] > act of pawning
pignoration1549
limbo1590
pawning1592
impignoration1598
pawnage1624
pop1819
pawn1824
avuncularism1859
mosking1902
1590 R. Greene Neuer too Late i. 58 If coyne want, then either to Limbo, or els clap vp a commoditie.
a1616 W. Shakespeare Comedy of Errors (1623) iv. ii. 32.
1623 W. Shakespeare & J. Fletcher Henry VIII v. iii. 62 I haue some of 'em in Limbo Patrum . View more context for this quotation
1649 J. Evelyn Mem. (1857) III. 51 So that John is now faster in Limbo than Ever.
1664 S. Butler Hudibras: Second Pt. ii. i. 8 On she went, To find the Knight in Limbo pent.
1693 W. Congreve Old Batchelour ii. i. 11 I let him have all my ready Mony to redeem his great Sword from Limbo.
1798 Beresford in Ld. Auckland's Corr. (1862) III. 441–2 We have colonels and lieutenant~colonels, and majors and captains enough in limbo.
1843 T. Carlyle Past & Present ii. viii. 103 Monks..must not speak too loud, under penalty of foot-gyves, limbo, and bread and water.
1849 R. Cobden Speeches 84 Men of bad character, who have been put into limbo, or flogged.
1881 W. Besant & J. Rice Chaplain of Fleet I. x. 217 There were, besides the residents..poets not yet in limbo.
b. Any unfavourable place or condition, likened to Limbo; esp. a condition of neglect or oblivion to which persons or things are consigned when regarded as outworn, useless, or absurd.
ΘΚΠ
the mind > mental capacity > memory > faulty recollection > [noun] > state of being forgotten, oblivion > place
limbo1642
lotusland1830
1642 J. Milton Apol. Smectymnuus 19 I am met with a whole ging of words and phrases not mine, for he hath..mangl'd them in this his wicked Limbo.
1743 A. Pope Dunciad (rev. ed.) i. 238 O! pass more innocent, in infant state, To the mild Limbo of our Father Tate.
1828 T. Moore (title) Limbo of lost reputations.
1866 J. Martineau Ess. Philos. & Theol. 1st Ser. 60 Comte..dismisses religion into limbo.
1874 J. L. Motley Life John of Barneveld II. xiii. 89 To send the Golden Bull itself to the limbo of worn out constitutional devices.
1894 J. Knight D. Garrick ix. 164 The piece..ran for eleven nights before descending into the limbo of oblivion.
c. A type of anti-submarine mortar. Also attributive or as adj.
ΘΚΠ
society > armed hostility > hostilities at sea > naval weapons and equipment > [noun] > ship's guns collectively > anti-submarine gun
Y gun1918
squid1947
limbo1955
1955 Times 20 June 4/6 The frigate Grenville fired live projectiles from her Limbo anti-submarine weapon.
1955 Times 20 June 4/6 The Limbo..is a multi-barrelled mortar of large calibre, linked automatically with a submarine detector of advanced design.
1956 Jane's Fighting Ships 1956–57 240/2 Have some side armour as well as deck protection; limbo type anti-submarine rocket throwers.
1957 Jane's Fighting Ships 1957–58 42/1 The two Limbos can each fire a pattern of large depth bombs with great accuracy.
1961 T. D. Manning Brit. Destroyer 24 The Squid has been improved on by Limbo which..is not fitted in destroyers but only in frigates.
Compounds
C1. attributive, as †limbo-dungeon; limbo-like adj.;
ΚΠ
1696 Toland Christianity not Myst. 27 They should not say they are in Limbo-Dungeon.
1848 ‘G. Eliot’ in J. W. Cross George Eliot's Life (1885) I. 179 I am even now..in a very shattered, limbo-like mental condition.
C2. † limbo-lake n. Obsolete the ‘pit’ of Hell (cf. lake n.4 3).
ΘΚΠ
the world > the supernatural > deity > hell > [noun] > as pit or abyss
hell pitOE
pitOE
abysmc1350
hell-holec1400
abyssc1460
bisme1483
pota1500
barathrum?1510
bottomless pit1526
limbo-lake1558
1558 T. Phaer tr. Virgil Seuen First Bks. Eneidos iii. sig. G.iiijv For Cyrces yle must furst be seen, and lands of Lymbo lake [L. infernique lacus].
1590 E. Spenser Faerie Queene i. ii. sig. B7v What voice of damned Ghost from Limbo lake.
1748 J. Thomson Castle of Indolence 458 His father's ghost from limbo~lake, the while, Sees this.
1820 W. Scott Abbot II. i. 20 From haunted spring and grassy ring, Troop goblin, elf, and fairy;..To Limbo-lake, Their way they take.
This entry has not yet been fully updated (first published 1903; most recently modified version published online March 2022).
limbon.2
A South African name for a kind of coarse calico.
ΘΚΠ
the world > textiles and clothing > textiles > textile fabric or an article of textile fabric > textile fabric > textile fabric made from specific material > cotton > [noun] > calico > types of
calico-lawn?1592
shamiana1609
dungaree1613
percaulah1614
muslin calico1705
Wigan1875
limbo1891
finishing cloth1892
1891 Pall Mall Gaz. 9 Nov. 6/2 This present is accompanied by a quantity of limbo (a coarse quality of calico).
1896 A. B. Balfour 1200 Miles in Waggon (ed. 2) 62 Bright-coloured cotton stuff, limbo, as it is called here.
1899 B. Mitford John Ames ii. 14 A dark blue fabric, commonly called by the whites ‘limbo’, being a corruption of the native name ‘ulembu’, which signifieth ‘web’.
This entry has not yet been fully updated (first published 1903; most recently modified version published online March 2018).
limbon.3
/ˈlɪmbəʊ/, U.S. /ˈlɪmboʊ/, Caribbean English /ˈlɪmboː/ A dance originating in Trinidad and Tobago in which the dancer bends backwards to pass under a horizontal bar, sometimes lowering the body to a position just above the ground; this move performed as part of a contest in which dancers take turns to attempt to pass under the bar, which is lowered at each round.
ΘΚΠ
society > leisure > dancing > types of dance or dancing > acrobatic dancing > [noun]
tumblinga1400
ladder-dance1801
pedestal dance1880
adagio1928
limbo1948
1948 E. Leaf Isles of Rhythm viii. 192 The limbo..was the most unusual of all. It is danced by a man who bends far backward, moves his feet forward in shuffling steps to the drum-music and passes under a stick.
1992 N.Y. Times 27 Mar. b11/2 The noise from revelers doing the limbo on the beach.
2011 N. Oakville Today (Nexis) 3 Nov. 1 The students jumped and danced around, doing the locomotion, the YMCA and the limbo.
Compounds
General use as a modifier, as in limbo contest, limbo dancer, limbo dancing, limbo stick, etc.
ΚΠ
1956 B. Smith Escape W. Indies App. 397 Good floor shows with Calypso singers and limbo dancers.
1966 Observer 13 Feb. 40/4 Trinidad's champion limbo dancer..can ease himself blindfold under a bar which is only 8 in. from the floor and is sometimes soaked in spirit and set alight.
1973 Sunday Advocate-News (Barbados) 21 Jan. 11/3 More variety should be introduced into these shows, including more steelband music, limbo dancing and folk dancing.
1983 N.Y. Times (Nexis) 2 Jan. (Late City Final ed.) 3/1 A welcome cocktail party and poolside limbo contest.
2019 Lethbridge (Alberta) Herald 12 Aug. a6/2 He could sure get his tall body under the limbo stick.
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, September 2021; most recently modified version published online March 2022).
limbov.
/ˈlɪmbəʊ/, U.S. /ˈlɪmboʊ/, Caribbean English /ˈlɪmboː/ intransitive. To dance or participate in the limbo (limbo n.3). Also in extended use: to bend backwards to pass under something. Frequently with under.
ΘΚΠ
society > leisure > dancing > types of dance or dancing > acrobatic dancing > [verb (intransitive)]
tumbc1000
tumble1303
limbo1956
1956 Newport (Rhode Island) Daily News 27 June 10/5 The dancer [of the limbo]..chants his challenge to the other dancers: ‘I want somebody to limbo like me.’
1963 Chicago Defender 16 Mar. 1/2 Dancing to the chant of exotic West Indian music,..Andy King Jr..started his record-breaking debut here by Limboing under a bar set at 30 inches.
2019 Scottish Daily Mail (Nexis) 19 Sept. 60 I had limboed arthritically into the ludicrously low-slung seat of a Ferrari 488 Spider.
This is a new entry (OED Third Edition, September 2021; most recently modified version published online March 2022).
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n.1a1400
n.21891n.31948
v.1956- to cut to a thread
- to cut to a thread between
- to cut to pieces
- to cut to ribbons
- to cut to the chase
- to cut to the heart
- to cut to waste
- to cut two ways
- to cut under
- to cut up
- to cut up by the roots
- to cut up carlicues
- to cut up curlicues
- to cut up didoes
- to cut up fat
- to cut up monkeyshines
- to cut up old touches
- to cut up rough, rusty, savage
- to cut up short
- to cut up touches
- to cut, crack a joke
- to cut, trim, etc short
- to dab nebs
- to daff the world aside
- to daggers' drawing