different between limber vs limbed

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

English

Etymology

From Middle English ilimed (“having limbs, limbed”) [and other forms], from i- (prefix forming adjectives, past participles, etc.) + lim (“organ or part of the body, member; extremity of an animal or human body, limb; sexual organ; a person as a member of the group of all Christians; follower; liegeman; corner of a siege tower; arm of the sea; branch of a subject”) (see further at lim) + -ed (suffix forming adjectives); analysable as limb +? -ed.

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation, General American) IPA^(key): /l?md/

Adjective

limbed (not comparable)

1. Having limbs.
2. Preceded by a descriptive word: having limbs of a specified kind or quality.

Derived terms

• clean-limbed

Translations

Verb

limbed

1. simple past tense and past participle of limb

References

Anagrams

• Lib Dem, delimb, dimble