Library / English Dictionary

LIMP

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

 I. (noun) 

Sense 1

Meaning:

The uneven manner of walking that results from an injured leg

Synonyms:

hitch; hobble; limp

Classified under:

Nouns denoting acts or actions

Hypernyms ("limp" is a kind of...):

gait (a person's manner of walking)

Derivation:

limp (walk impeded by some physical limitation or injury)

limp (proceed slowly or with difficulty)

 II. (adjective) 

Sense 1

Meaning:

Without energy or will

Example:

the afternoon heat left her feeling wilted

Synonyms:

limp; wilted

Classified under:

Adjectives

Similar:

weak (wanting in physical strength)

Sense 2

Meaning:

Lacking or having lost rigidity

Example:

he felt his body go limp

Classified under:

Adjectives

Similar:

lax (lacking in firmness or tension; not taut)

Derivation:

limpness (a flabby softness)

 III. (verb) 

Sense 1

Meaning:

Walk impeded by some physical limitation or injury

Example:

The old woman hobbles down to the store every day

Synonyms:

gimp; hitch; hobble; limp

Classified under:

Verbs of walking, flying, swimming

Hypernyms (to "limp" is one way to...):

walk (use one's feet to advance; advance by steps)

Sentence frames:

Somebody ----s
Somebody ----s PP

Sentence example:

They limp up the hill

Derivation:

limp (the uneven manner of walking that results from an injured leg)

limper (someone who has a limp and walks with a hobbling gait)

Sense 2

Meaning:

Proceed slowly or with difficulty

Example:

the boat limped into the harbor

Classified under:

Verbs of walking, flying, swimming

Hypernyms (to "limp" is one way to...):

continue; go forward; proceed (move ahead; travel onward in time or space)

Sentence frames:

Something ----s
Somebody ----s
Something is ----ing PP
Somebody ----s PP

Sentence example:

They limp up the hill

Derivation:

limp (the uneven manner of walking that results from an injured leg)

Credits

 Context examples: 

On the morning after our first adventure upon the plateau, both Summerlee and I were in great pain and fever, while Challenger's knee was so bruised that he could hardly limp.

(The Lost World, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

Then he fell back into an armchair so limp and exhausted with his own emotions that we had to pour brandy down his throat to keep him from fainting.

(The Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

She picked up the leg sulkily and led her cow away, the poor animal limping on three legs.

(The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, by L. Frank Baum)

One early sign of JRA may be limping in the morning.

(Juvenile Rheumatoid Arthritis, NIH: National Institute of Arthritis and Musculoskeletal and Skin Diseases)

With difficulty he limped up to the door, where a squat, dark, elderly man was smoking a black clay pipe.

(The Return of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

Because he limped—he was lame.

(The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

He was a different man from the limp and lounging figure in the mouse-coloured dressing-gown who had prowled so restlessly only a few hours before round the fog-girt room.

(His Last Bow, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

Now Sultan had nobody he could ask to be his second but the shepherd’s old three-legged cat; so he took her with him, and as the poor thing limped along with some trouble, she stuck up her tail straight in the air.

(Fairy Tales, by The Brothers Grimm)

Limping or lameness.

(Claudication, Food and Drug Administration)

The cub's shoulder was stiff and sore, and for some time he limped from the terrible slash he had received.

(White Fang, by Jack London)