Forms: 4–6 lymyt(e, 6–7 limite, limmit, lymit, (6 lemyt, limitte, 7 limytt), 5– limit. Also pa. t. 5 lymett; pa. pple. 4 lemete, 5–6 lemett, lymyt, 6 lymmit, -yt. [ad. F. limiter, ad. L. līmitāre, f. līmit-, līmes LIMIT sb.]
1. trans. To assign within limits (also to limit and assign, limit and ordain); to appoint, fix definitely; to specify. Also with away, over. Const. dat. or to, (till), upon, and to with inf. Obs. exc. in legal language.
138[?]. Wyclif, Wks. (1880), 298. As tyme & oþer circumstaunce þat limiten peyne for a dede ben aȝen þe fredom þat crist wole haue in hise lawe.
c. 1400. Maundev. (Roxb.), xxv. 118. Ilkane of þer ostez hase þaire iourneez limited.
a. 1400–50. Alexander, 4283. Oure lord has lemett vs elike þe lenthe of oure days.
1413. Pilgr. Sowle (Caxton), V. i. (1859), 72. Of endeles thynge maye no proporcion be lymyted, ne accounted.
1444. Rolls of Parlt., V. 125/1. Thoo peynes that ben specialli lymyted upon the seid Baillifs.
c. 1460. Towneley Myst., xix. 6. Apon the erth he send lightnes, Both son and moyne lymett thertyll.
1494. Fabyan, Chron., VI. clxxxv. 184. At the daye before lymytted and assygned.
1525. Ld. Berners, Froiss., II. xliv. 143. The Lady Elyanoure had it lymytted to her for her dowry.
1536. Wriothesley, Chron. (1875), I. 55. Under a certaine paine lymitted for the same for the said cleargie.
1581. W. Stafford, Exam. Compl., iii. (1876), 91. Euery Artificer dwelling out of all townes … should bee limitted to bee vnder the direction of one good Towne or other.
c. 1590. Marlowe, Faust., xiv. (1604), F 2 b. O, no end is limited to damned soules!
1603. Owen, Pembrokeshire, i. (1891), 1. The Center or middle of the same Shere which I limytt to be aboute Heythoch moore.
1603. Florio, Montaigne, III. xi. (1632), 578. Astrology could not yet limit the motion of the Moone.
1668. Marvell, Corr., Wks. 1872–5, II. 250. Neither do I believe we can finish it and the rest within the time limited us by his Majesty.
1750. Beawes, Lex Mercat. (1752), 266. The time limitted in the bottomry bond.
1767. Blackstone, Comm., II. 155. If … the estate be limited over to a third person.
1795. Bentham, Supply without Burden, 32. When an estate in England has been limited away from a man altogether, he never looks at it.
1818. Cruise, Digest (ed. 2), IV. 175. In the release there was a power … to revoke the uses contained therein, and to limit other uses.
† b. To appoint (a person) to an office; to assign (a duty) to a person. Obs.
c. 1380. Wyclif, Serm., Sel. Wks. I. 140. Þree offices of heerdis þat Crist haþ lymytid to hem. Ibid. (c. 1380), Wks. (1880), 331. As if a pope make a lawe þat who euer he lymytiþ to here confessioun of þis man or confession of þis comunatee, he shal here þise mennes shrifte.
1420. Searchers Verdicts, in Surtees Misc. (1888), 16. Sercheours … assigned and lymyt by Thomas of Gare.
1482. M. Paston’s Will, in P. Lett., III. 286. After the stipend of the preste lymyted to synge for me be yerly levied.
c. 1505. in Plumpton Corr., 189. I had the keyes levered me … & had a fellow lemett to keep the said schawnter with me, & he faylled me in my most neede.
1557. Paynel, Barclay’s Jugurth, 42. He had lymitted hym in Numidy in his stede to be captayne of the army.
1638. Heywood, Wise Woman, IV. i. Wks. 1874, V. 319. I limit you to be a welcome guest unto my Table.
† c. To lot or plot out; to allot, apportion. Obs.
1530. Palsgr., 612/1. Our grounds were lymyted afore our fathers dayes.
1559. W. Cunningham, Cosmogr. Glasse, Pref. A vj. And by … th’equinoctiall, polary circles, and altitude of the pole, to limite out the Zones, Climates, and Paralleles.
1577. Harrison, England, II. iv. (1877), I. 91. England was limited out by families and hidelands.
1579. Tomson, Calvin’s Serm. Tim., 765/2. God … hath limited out all our life.
1605. Verstegan, Dec. Intell., vi. (1628), 157. Markenryc, that is the country or Kingdome, marked or limited out.
a. 1619. Fotherby, Atheom., II. i. § 8 (1622), 190. He had all his learning and knowledge limited out vnto him: yen, and that by a scant scantling.
a. 1649. Prayers, in Chas. I.’s Wks. (1662), 197. Let thy infinite Power vouchsafe to limit out some proportion of deliverance unto Me.
† d. Math. To lay down, ‘give’ in the hypothesis of a proposition. Obs.
1551. Recorde, Pathw. Knowl., I. xv. The likeiamme … hath one angle … like to D. the angle that was limitted. Ibid., II. iii. This triangle … hath two corners equal eche to other, that is A and B, as I do by supposition limite.
† e. pass. of proportions or contour: To be outlined or drawn (in a specified manner). Obs.
1636. W. Bettie, Titana & Theseus, B 2. Seeing his face so perfectly featured, and viewing each limb, the portraiture of his body so well limited, that [etc.].
2. To confine within limits, to set bounds to (rarely in material sense); to bound, restrict. Const. to. † Also, to prohibit (a person) from (something).
a. 1400[?]. Morte Arth., 457. Thy lycence es lemete in presence of lordys.
1508. Fisher, 7 Penit. Ps. cxxx. Wks. (1876), 226. The mercy of god … can neuer be lymyt to ony creature.
c. 1530. More, Answ. Frith, Wks. 841/1. Than must be limitte Gods power howe farre he will geue God leaue to stretche it.
1555. Eden, Decades, 11. They haue lymyted and enclosed certeyne grounde to make gardeynes and orchiardes.
1585. Abp. Sandys, Serm., xvii. 293. He limiteth and restraineth his permission, saying, Rest a while.
1597. Hooker, Eccl. Pol., V. lxix. § 1. If in continuance also limited, they all haue their set … termes.
1631. Star Chamb. Cases (Camden), 80. Sr Francis Leake … made a deed limitting the use to my Lady Leake.
1662. Earl Orrery, State Lett. (1743), I. 77. His Hylas was not limited to numbers and rhyme, as mine is.
1670. G. H., Hist. Cardinals, II. III. 186. He was limited in his victuals, and ty’d up to a certain allowance every day.
a. 1715. Burnet, Own Time (1724), I. 557. He thought a government limited by law was only a name.
1722. De Foe, Moll Flanders (ed. 3), 62. I had a Husband and no Husband…: Thus I say, I was limited from Marriage, what Offer soever might be made me.
1732. Lediard, Sethos, II. x. 362. He limited his number of cavalry to six thousand men.
1786. Burke, W. Hastings, Wks. 1842, II. 143. The act of parliament … did expressly limit the duration of their office to the term of five years.
1813. Lady Hamilton, in G. Rose’s Diaries (1860), I. 272. You do not know how limited I am. I have left everything to be sold for the creditors.
1818. Cruise, Digest (ed. 2), I. 418. A man cannot by any conveyance at common law limit an estate to his wife.
1828. D’Israeli, Chas. I., I. vii. 216. The philosophical inquirer will not limit his researches by simple dates.
1844. Ld. Brougham, Brit. Const., xvi. (1862), 249. And it [the succession] was afterwards further limited to the descendants of James I.’s daughter.
1856. Kane, Arct. Expl., II. xxviii. 282. Our draft on the stores … had been limited for some days to … eggs [etc.].
1874. Green, Short Hist., v. § 1. 218. The commerce … was still mainly limited to the exportation of wool to Flanders.
1900. F. Anstey, Brass Bottle, iii. 35. If you remember, sir, you strictly limited me to the sums you marked.
b. To serve as a limit or boundary to; to bound; to mark off from. Also to limit in. Now rare.
1582. Stanyhurst, Æneis, I. (Arb.), 26. This rule thus fixed no tyme shal limit, or hazard.
1594. Blundevil, Exerc., V. (1636), 560. The Provinces that … are limited with the Provinces of China.
1601. Weever, Mirr. Mart., E v. Limits there be for euery thing beside, No banks can limit in the sea of pride.
1601. Holland, Pliny, I. 122. The kingdome of the Parthians … is limited and separat by these mountaines and streights.
1625. K. Long, trans. Barclay’s Argenis, I. xx. 60. The souldiers reached to the doore of the Temple, in two rankes, limiting the way to them that came to the Princesse.
1633. Earl Manch., Al Mondo (1636), 185. God cannot bee God, if Nature limit him.
1889. Geddes & Thomson, Evolution of Sex, xi. 146. Round the chromatin rods vacuoles are formed, limiting them from the surrounding protoplasm.
† 3. intr. To border upon (a country). Obs.
1613. Sherley, Trav. Persia, 4. Those countries limitting upon the King of Spaines vniall partes.
† 4. To beg within specified limits. [A back-formation from LIMITER (sense 1).] Obs. rare–1.
1577. Northbrooke, Dicing (1843), 57. They [Popishe friers] go ydelly a limiting abrode.
