Emily Dickinson Lexicon

LIL-Y-HY'A-CINTH, n.

A plant. – Miller.

LIL-Y-LIV'ER-ED, a.

White-livered; cowardly. [No used.] – Shak.

LI-MA'TION, n. [L. limo, to file.]

The act of filing or polishing.

LI'MA-TURE, n. [L. limo, to file.]

1. A filing.
2. Filings; particles rubbed off by filing. – Johnson.

LIMB, n. [lim; Sax. lim; Dan. and Sw. lem; L. limbus, edge or border, extremity; limes, limit, coinciding perhaps with W. llem, llym, sharp, or llamu, to leap. The sense of limb is from shooting or extending.]

1. Edge or border. This is the proper signification of the word; but in this sense it is limited chiefly to technical use, and applied to the sun, moon, or a star, to leaf, to quadrant, &c. We say, the sun or moon is eclipsed on its northern limb. But we never say, the limb of a board, of a tract of land or water, &c.
2. In anatomy, and in common use, an extremity of the human body; a member; a projecting part; as the arm or leg; that is, a shoot.
3. The branch of a tree; applied only to a branch of same size, and not to a small twig.
4. In botany, the border or upper spreading part of a mono-petalous corol. – Martyn.

LIMB, v.t. [lim.]

1. To supply with limbs.
2. To dismember; to tear off the limbs.

LIM'BAT, n.

A cooling periodical wind in the Isle of Cyprus, blowing from the northwest from eight o'clock, A. M. to the middle of the day or later. – Encyc.

LIM'BEC, n. [contracted from alembic.]

A still; a word not now used.

LIM'BEC, v.t.

To strain or pass through a still. [Obs.] – Sandys.

LIMB'ED, a.

In composition, formed with regard to limbs; as, well-limbed; large-limbed; short-limbed. – Pope.

LIM'BER, a. [perhaps from the W. llib, llibin; for m and b are convertible, and m before b, is often casual.]

Easily bent; flexible; pliant; yielding. In America, it is applied to material things; as, a limber rod; a limber joint.

LIM'BER-NESS, n.

The quality of being easily bent; flexibleness; pliancy.

LIM'BERS, n.

1. A two-wheeled carriage, having boxes for ammunition.
2. Thills; shafts of a carriage. [Local.]

LIM'BERS, or LIM'BER-HOLES, n.

In a ship, square holes cut through the floor timbers, as a passage for water to the pump-well. – Mar. Dict.

LIM'BIL-ITE, n.

A mineral from Limbourg, in Swabia, of a honey yellow color, and compact texture. – Saussure.

LIMB'LESS, a.

Destitute of limbs. – Massinger.

LIMB'-MEAL, a.

Piece-meal. – Shak.

LIM'BO, or LIM'BUS, n. [L. limbus.]

1. A region bordering on hell, or hell itself. – Shak. Among Romanists, a place where the souls of persons are lodged after death.
2. A place of restraint. Dryden.

LIME, n. [Sax. lim, lime, whence geliman, to glue; Sw. and Dan. lim, D. lym, G. leim and lehem, loam; L. limus; It. and Sp. limo; probably Gr. λημη, γλημη, and allied to clammy. On this word is formed slime.]

1. A viscous substance, sometimes laid on twigs for catching birds. Dryden.
2. Calcarious earth, oxyd of calcium, procured from chalk and certain stones and shells, by expelling from them the carbonic acid, by means of a strong heat in a furnace. The best lime for mortar or cement is obtained from limestone, or carbonate of lime, of which marble is a fine species. – Hooper. Nicholson.
3. The linden tree, or Tilia.
4. [Fr. lime. See Lemon.] A species of acid fruit, smaller than the lemon.

LIME, v.t. [Sax. geliman.]

1. To smear with a viscous substance. – L'Estrange.
2. To entangle; to ensnare. – Shak.
3. To manure with lime. Land may be improved by draining, marling, and liming. – Child.
4. To cement. – Shak.

LIME'-BURN-ER, n.

One who burns stone to lime.

LIM'ED, pp.

Smeared with lime; entangled; manured with lime.

LIME'-HOUND, n.

A dog used in hunting the wild boar; a limer. – Spenser.

LIME'-KILN, n. [li'mekil.]

A kiln or furnace in which stones or shells are exposed to a strong heat and reduced to lime.

LIME'STONE, n.

Stone of which lime is made by the expulsion of its carbonic acid, or fixed air. It is called carbonate of lime. Of this there are several species.