different between limbec vs limber

English

Etymology

See alembic

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /?l?mb?k/

Verb

limbec (third-person singular simple present limbecs, present participle limbecking, simple past and past participle limbecked)

1. (obsolete, transitive) To distill.

   (Can we find and add a quotation of Dryden to this entry?)

   • c. 1627, John Donne, A Nocturnal upon St. Lucie's Day, being the shortest day

     I, by Love's limbec, am the grave / Of all that's nothing.

Noun

limbec (plural limbecs)

1. An alembic; a still.
   • c. 1606, William Shakespeare, Macbeth

     the warder of the brain / Shall be a fume, and the receipt of reason / A limbec only.

Anagrams

• emblic

English

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /?l?mb?(?)/

Etymology 1

Unknown; possibly related to limb or limp.

Adjective

limber (comparative limberer, superlative limberest)

1. Flexible, pliant, bendable.

Derived terms

Translations

Verb

limber (third-person singular simple present limbers, present participle limbering, simple past and past participle limbered)

1. To cause to become limber; to make flexible or pliant.

Translations

Etymology 2

For the obsolete limmer, from Old Norse limar (“branches”), plural of lim.

Noun

limber (plural limbers)

1. (military) A two-wheeled vehicle to which a wheeled artillery piece or caisson may be attached for transport.
   • 1985, Peter Carey, Illywhacker, Faber and Faber 2003, p. 29:

     we covered the rutted, rattling, dusty pot-holed roads of coastal Victoria, six big Walers in front, the cannon at the rear, and that unsprung cart they called a ‘limber’ in the middle.

2. (in the plural) The shafts or thills of a wagon or carriage.
3. (nautical, in the plural) Gutters or conduits on each side of the keelson to allow water to pass to the pump well.

Usage notes

• Sometimes the plural limbers was used to refer to a single such vehicle.

Translations

Verb

limber (third-person singular simple present limbers, present participle limbering, simple past and past participle limbered)

1. (obsolete) To prepare an artillery piece for transportation (i.e., to attach it to its limber.)

Antonyms

• unlimber

Translations

See also

• caisson

Further reading

• Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed., 1989.
• limber on Wikipedia.Wikipedia
• limbers and caissons on Wikipedia.Wikipedia
• Limbers on Wikimedia Commons.Wikimedia Commons
• limber at OneLook Dictionary Search
• limber in The Century Dictionary, New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., 1911.

References