Emily Dickinson Lexicon
Dictionary: IMP – IM-PALP-A-BIL'I-TY
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IMP, n. [W. imp, a shoot or cion; Sw. ymp, Dan. ympe, id.]
- A son; offspring; progeny. The tender imp was weaned. Fairfax. A lad of life, an imp of fame. Shak.
- A subaltern or puny devil. Hooker. Milton. [“Imp, an addition to a bee-hive; also, one length of hair twisted, as forming part of a fishing-line.” J.T. Brockett's Glossary of North Country Words, 2nd edit. p. 164. – E. H. B.]
IMP, v.t. [W. impiaw, G. impfen, Sw. ympa, Sax. impan, Dan. ymper, to ingraft; D. ent, a graft; enten, to ingraft.]
- To graft. Chaucer.
- To lengthen; to extend or enlarge by something inserted or added; a term originally used by falconers, who repair a hawk's wing by adding feathers. Imp out our drooping country's broken wings. Shak. The false north displays / Her broken league to imp her serpent wings. Milton. This verb is, I believe, used only in poetry. [In falconry, to imp a feather in a hawk's wing, is to add a new piece to a mutilated stump, from the Saxon impan, to ingraft. Spenser.]
IM-PA'CA-BLE, a. [L. in and paco, to appease.]
Not to be appeased or quieted. Spenser.
IM-PA'CA-BLY, adv.
In a manner not admitting of being appeased.
IM-PACT', n.
In mechanics, the instantaneous action of one body on another to put in motion.
IM'PACT, n.
Touch; impression. Darwin.
IM-PACT', v.t. [L. impactus, from impingo; in and pango, to drive.]
To drive close; to press or drive firmly together. Woodward.
IM-PACT'ED, pp.
Driven hard; made close by driving. Woodward.
IM-PACT'ING, ppr.
Driving or pressing close.
IM-PAINT', v.t.
To paint; to adorn with colors. Shak.
IM-PAINT'ED, pp.
Ornamented with colors.
IM-PAINT'ING, ppr.
Adorning with colors.
IM'PAIR, a. [L. impar, unequal.]
In crystalography, when a different number of faces is presented by the prism, and by each summit; but the three numbers follow no law of progression. Cleaveland.
Diminution; decrease; injury. [Not used.] Brown.
IM-PAIR', v.i.
To be lessened or worn out. [Little used.] Spenser.
IM-PAIR', v.t. [Fr. empirer; Sp. empeorar; Port. empeiorar, from peior, worse, Sp. peor, Fr. pire, from L. pejor.]
- To make worse; to diminish in quantity, value or excellence. An estate is impaired by extravagance or neglect. The profligate impairs his estate and his reputation. Imprudence impairs a man's usefulness.
- To weaken; to enfeeble. The constitution is impaired by intemperance, by infirmity and by age. The force of evidence may be impaired by the suspicion of interest in the witness.
IM-PAIR'ED, pp.
Diminished; injured; weakened.
IM-PAIR'ER, n.
He or that which impairs. Warburton.
IM-PAIR'ING, ppr.
Making worse; lessening; injuring; enfeebling.
IM-PAL'A-TA-BLE, a.
Unpalatable. [Little used.]
IM-PALE', v.t. [L. in and palus, a pole, a stake.]
- To fix on a stake; to put to death by fixing on an upright sharp stake. [See Empale.]
- To inclose with stakes, posts or palisades.
- In heraldry, to join two coats of arms pale-wise. Encyc.
IM-PALE'MENT, n.
- In heraldry, the division of a shield palewise. [See Pale.]
- The act of impaling or putting to death on a stake.
IM-PAL'LID, v.t.
To make pallid or pale. [Not in use.] Feltham.
IM'PALM, v.t. [imp'am; L. in and palma, the hand.]
To grasp; to take in the hand. J. Barlow.
The quality of not being palpable, or perceptible by the touch. Jortin.