Also 6–7 lymb(e, limbe, (7 lembe). [ad. L. limb-us hem, border, edge, fringe, zodiac, or F. limbe (= It., Sp., Pg. limbo). Cf. LIMBUS, LIMBO.]
† 1. Sc. = LIMBO 1, LIMBUS 1. Obs.
c. 1459. Mirour Saluacioun, 492 (1888), 18. For sawles fro helles Lymbe shuld passe maugre thaire foos.
1513. Douglas, Æneis, VI. Prol. 92. The Lymb of faderis auld, With Lymbus puerorum.
1528. Lyndesay, Dreme, 360. That was the Lymbe, in the quhilk did remaine Our Fore-fatheris, because Adam offendit.
1588. A. King, trans. Canisius’ Catech., 8. The fatheris, quha war abyddand, in the limbe and place of rest.
1600. J. Hamilton, Facile Traictise, X 3. To hyd the deliuerance of the patriarches and vthers Iust men, in the auld law out of the lymbe of the fathers.
1797. Encycl. Brit. (ed. 3), X. s.v. Limb, Limbus.… The limb of the patriarchs…. The limb of infants dying without baptism.
† 2. A border or edging. Obs. rare–1.
1644. Digby, Nat. Bodies, xxx. (1645), 321. There must appeare at the bottom of the paper, a Lembe of deepe blew.
3. In scientific use; The edge or boundary of a surface. a. gen.
1704. Newton, Optics (1721), 209. The violet and blue at the exterior Limbs of each Ring, and the red and yellow at the interior.
1791. W. Bartram, Carolina, 501. Their ears are lacerated, separating the border or cartelaginous limb.
1826. Kirby & Sp., Entomol., IV. 268. Disk, the middle of a surface. Limb, the circumference. Margin, the extreme sides.
1831. Literary Gaz., 15 Jan., 40/3. The points thus formed being carefully marked on the limb of the circle, the intervals are then subdivided [etc.].
b. The graduated edge of a quadrant or similar instrument.
1593. T. Fale, Dialling, 50 b. The 63d. 30m. of the limbe of the Quadrant.
1594. Blundevil, Exerc., VII. xx. (1636), 677. The limbe of the Mariners Astrolabe is traced … with three Circles, making two spaces to containe therein the degrees and numbers of altitude.
1690. Leybourn, Curs. Math., 715 b. The Limb of the Quadrant is divided into 90 … Degrees.
1774. M. Mackenzie, Maritime Surv., 34. Mark down the Degrees and Minutes shewn on the Limb.
1837. Whewell, Hist. Induct. Sci. (1857), I. 154. Instruments were soon invented for measuring angles, by means of circles, which had a border, or limb, divided into equal parts.
c. The edge of the disk of a heavenly body, esp. of the sun and moon.
a. 1677. Hale, Prim. Orig. Man., IV. viii. 364. The perception of Sense … judgeth … the Limb of the Heavenly Horizon to be contiguous to the Earth.
1726. trans. Gregory’s Astron., I. 39. The Eastern Limb of the Moon will first cover the Western of the Sun, and the Western of the Moon will last uncover the Eastern Limb of the Sun.
1768–74. Tucker, Lt. Nat. (1834), I. 305. When astronomers, in describing an eclipse, talk of the shadow of the earth touching the outer limb of the moon.
1812. Woodhouse, Astron., xi. 90. The lower limb of the Sun when setting.
1879. Newcomb & Holden, Astron., 301. Similar prominences were seen about the sun’s limb.
1891. T. Hardy, Tess, I. ix. The sun’s lower limb was just free of the hill.
d. Bot. The lamina or expanded portion of a monopetalous corolla, of a petal or sepal. Also, the lamina or blade of a leaf.
1735. Dyche & Pardon, Dict., Limb,… among the Florists, ’tis the Edge of Leaves, Flowers, &c.
1760. J. Lee, Introd. Bot., I. iii. (1765), 7. One Petal; it consists of two Parts, viz. … the Limb, or upper Part, which usually spreads wider.
1861. Miss Pratt, Flower. Pl., I. 6. The upper large part of the petal is termed the limb, and the lower the claw.
1872. Oliver, Elem. Bot., I. vii. 85. In a gamopetalous corolla … the lower united portion is called the tube; the free divisions, which indicate the number of parts cohering, the limb.
e. Zool. In trilobites (see quot.).
1877. Huxley, Anat. Inv. Anim., vi. 258. The limb, or lateral area on either side [of the glabellum] answers to a thoracic pleuron. Ibid., 259. The limb is thus divided into two parts—one fixed…, attached to the glabellum; the other separable … on which the eye is placed.
