Also 6 limmer, lymmer, 6–7 lymber. [Of obscure origin; Skeat suggests connection with LIMP a., which, however, has not been found before 1706; it may perh. be some compound of LIMB sb. (cf. the derivation of LEATHWAKE from LITH, limb). Cf. also the synonymous limmock dial.]
1. Easily bent (without damage to shape or structure); flexible, pliant, supple.
1565. Cooper, Thesaurus, Lentus, softe, tender, pliant, that boweth easely, limber [etc.].
1567. Turberv., Epit., etc. 87. The Bargeman that doth rowe with long and limber Oare.
1578. Lyte, Dodoens, IV. lxxx. 543. The roote … tough and limmer, and harde to breake. Ibid., V. xxxii. 591. The Gourde hath long limmer stalkes.
1657. Austen, Fruit Trees, I. 50. Do not prune off the side branches, lest the body of the plant be too small and limber to beare his head.
1667. Milton, P. L., VII. 476. Those wav’d thir limber fans For wings.
1684. Boyle, Porousn. Anim. & Solid Bod., v. 46. With another piece of the same Bladder, made limber by being a little wetted in common water.
1713. Cheselden, Anat., I. i. (1726), 12. I … found … in one instance several of the bones as limber as leather.
1738. [G. Smith], Curious Relat., II. v. 108. A Sort of Paper … as fine and limber as Silk.
1787. J. Farley, Lond. Art Cookery (ed. 4), 7. The feet [of a goose] will be limber, if it be fresh, but stiff and dry if old.
1840. R. H. Dana, Bef. Mast, xxx. 11. That the [new] ropes might have time to stretch and become limber.
1872. Blackie, Lays Highl., 73. Ye Norsemen brave That ply the limber oar.
b. Of persons, their bodies, movements, etc.: Bending or moving easily; lithe and nimble.
1582. Stanyhurst, Æneis, IV. (Arb.), 100. Limber in her whisking … shee soars vp nimblye toe skyward.
1603. Drayton, Bar. Wars, VI. xxxviii. In Postures strange, their limber Bodies bending.
1605. B. Jonson, Volpone, III. i. I could skip Out of my skin, now, like a subtill snake, I am so limber.
1635. Foxe & James, Voy. N. W. (Hakluyt Soc.), II. 378. The sunne shone, and thawed our men and made them more limber.
1694. Crowne, Married Beau, II. 20. Methinks you are As limber in your tongue as in your hams.
1736. Carte, Ormonde, II. 549. At getting up, he took notice … that his legs were more limber and bended with greater ease.
1751. Smollett, Per. Pic. (1779), II. xliv. 71. The Italian … a thin limber creature.
1817. Coleridge, Christabel, II. 1. A little child, a limber elf.
1844. Disraeli, Coningsby, I. i. A limber and graceful figure.
1859. Wraxall, trans. R. Houdin, iii. 27. The fingers remaining perfectly free and limber.
1885–94. R. Bridges, Eros & Psyche, March, xiv. Her comely boy, The limber scion of the God of War.
† c. In unfavorable sense, of things which are properly firm or crisp: Limp, flaccid, flabby.
1592. Warner, Alb. Eng., VII. xxxvii. (1612), 182. My limber wings were Leather-like vnplum’de.
1602. Middleton, Blurt, II. i. Limber like the skin of a white pudding when the meat is out.
1658. trans. Porta’s Nat. Magic, I. xv. 20. Flowers are … to be gathered … before they wax limber.
1736. Bailey, Housh. Dict., 195. Observe to clap very quick and very hard, for if you let them dry they will be limber.
1747. Mrs. Glasse, Cookery (1767), 323. A rabbit, if stale, will be limber and slimy; if new, white and stiff.
2. fig.
1602. Marston, Ant. & Mel., I. Wks. 1856, I. 11. Confusion to these limber sycophants.
1611. Shaks., Wint. T., I. ii. 47. You put me off with limber Vowes.
a. 1639. Wotton, in Gutch, Coll. Cur., I. 219. He had tryed and found him a Prince of limber virtues.
1695. Remarks Late Serm. (ed. 2), 2. Men of limber and pliable Consciences can easily do this.
1719. D’Urfey, Pills (1872), II. 244. Tho’ both in his sense, and his Loyalty limber.
1858. Bushnell, Serm. New Life, 250. His whole nature becomes limber and quick to his love.
1887. Betham-Edwards, Next of Kin wanted, I. xx. 272. [He] proved limber as a withy in her hands.
† 3. quasi-sb. Limber quality, limberness. Obs.
1786. Mrs. A. M. Bennett, Juvenile Indiscretions, I. 12. The whole depth of his talents laying in the mere limber of his tongue.
4. Comb., as limber-backed, -footed, -legged adjs.
1601. Holland, Pliny, I. 96. The Himantopodes be some of them limber legged and tender.
1720. Humourist, 162. A poor limber-back’d Beau.
1747. Mrs. Glasse, Cookery (1767), 322. The duck … if new, limber-footed; if stale, dry-footed.
Hence Limberness.
1565. Cooper, Thesaurus, Lentitia, softenesse, pliantnesse, limbernesse.
1669. Boyle, Contn. New Exp., I. 160. The limberness of them [the sides of a bladder] would permit the Air to accommodate it self and the Bladder to the Figure of a Cylindrical vessel.
1743. Lond. & Country Brewer, IV. (ed. 2), 278. In this [trough] oaken Planks are laid for the confin’d Steam of hot Water … to impregnate and reduce them to a Limberness.
1835. M. Scott, in Blackw. Mag., XXXVII. 460. The extreme pliancy and eel-like limberness, if I may so speak, of the whole body.
1889. F. M. Crawford, Greifenstein, I. viii. 236. He has the most surprising limberness of wrist.
