limb

Meanings

1. 1
   noun

   the graduated arc that is attached to an instrument for measuring angles

   the limb of the sextant

2. 2
   noun

   either of the two halves of a bow from handle to tip

   the upper limb of the bow

3. 3
   noun

   A major appendage of human or animal, used for locomotion (such as an arm, leg or wing).

   UUhoſe hands are made to gripe a warlike Lance— Their ſhoulders broad, for complet armour fit, Their lims more large and of a bigger ſize Than all the brats yſprong from Typhons loins:

4. 4
   noun

   A thing or person regarded as a part or member of, or attachment to, something else.

   That little limb of the devil has cheated the gallows.

5. 5
   verb

   To remove the limbs from (an animal or tree).

   They limbed the felled trees before cutting them into logs.

6. 6
   verb

   To supply with limbs.

   Innumerous living creatures , perfect forms , Limb'd and full grown: out of the ground uprose

7. 7
   verb

   To thoroughly defeat an opponent in fisticuffs

   Brian limbed Roger over at the Beahive last night.

8. 8
   noun

   The apparent visual edge of a celestial body.

   the solar limb

Etymology

From Middle English lyme, lim, from Old English lim (“limb, branch”), from Proto-West Germanic *limu, from Proto-Germanic *limuz (“branch, limb”). Cognate with Old Norse limr (“limb”). The spelling with the silent unetymological -b first arose in the late 1500s. Compare crumb.