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.]

  1. A son; offspring; progeny. The tender imp was weaned. Fairfax. A lad of life, an imp of fame. Shak.
  2. 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.]

  1. To graft. Chaucer.
  2. 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.

IM-PAIR', or IM-PAIR'MENT, n.

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.]

  1. 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.
  2. 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.]

  1. To fix on a stake; to put to death by fixing on an upright sharp stake. [See Empale.]
  2. To inclose with stakes, posts or palisades.
  3. In heraldry, to join two coats of arms pale-wise. Encyc.

IM-PALE'MENT, n.

  1. In heraldry, the division of a shield palewise. [See Pale.]
  2. 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.

IM-PALP-A-BIL'I-TY, n.

The quality of not being palpable, or perceptible by the touch. Jortin.