Emily Dickinson Lexicon

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.]