Limited

ppl. a. [f. LIMIT v. + -ED¹.] In senses of the vb.

  † 1.  Appointed, fixed. Obs.

1551.  Robinson, trans. More’s Utop., I. (1895), 67. He … hiereth some of them for meate and drynke, and a certeyne limityd wayges by the daye.

1577–87.  Holinshed, Chron., III. 882/1. That euerie man … should paie the whole subsidie … out of hand, not tarring till the daies of paiment limited.

1633.  T. Stafford, Pac. Hib., II. i. (1810), 225. They did somewhat exceede the time limited.

  2.  Circumscribed within definite limits, bounded, restricted. Of circumstances: Narrow. Limited mail: a mail train in which only a limited number of passengers is conveyed. Limited monarchy: one in which the functions of the monarch are exercised under conditions prescribed by the constitution; so limited government, monarch, royalty.

1610.  Willet, Hexapla Dan., 259. The knowledge of angels is limited.

1651.  Hobbes, Leviath., II. xix. 98. That King whose power is limited, is not superiour to him, or them that have the power to limit it.

1674.  Essex Papers (Camden), I. 265. I cannot imagine what it is makes men in England believe y^e Goverm^t of Ireland to be for a Limited Time of Three Years.

1736.  Chandler, Hist. Persec., Introd. 5. The blessings of a limited government.

1789.  Gouv. Morris, in Sparks, Life & Writ. (1832), II. 72. The King of France must soon be one of the most limited monarchs in Europe.

1828.  Scott, F. M. Perth, xxi. I thank your Highness,… for your cautious and limited testimony in my behalf.

1832.  Austin, Jurispr. (1879), I. vi. 247. In limited monarchies a single individual shares the sovereign powers with an aggregate or aggregates of individuals.

1833.  Mylne & Keen, Reports, II. 244. His co-executor … was in narrow and limited circumstances.

1853.  C. Brontë, Villette, viii. (1876), 68. That school offered for her powers too limited a sphere.

1860.  Tyndall, Glac., I. ii. 15. A limited number of images only will be seen.

1865.  Mozley, Mirac., iv. 86. A limited Deity was a recognised conception of antiquity.

1883.  P. Fitzgerald, Recreat. Lit. Man, 80. He started for Dublin by the mid-day limited mail.

  b.  Limited company: short for limited liability company (see LIABILITY).

1855.  Act 18 & 19 Vict., c. 133 § 1. The Word ‘Limited’ shall be the last Word of the Name of the Company.

1872.  Raymond, Statist. Mines & Mining, 107. The Nevada Land and Mining Company, (limited).

  3.  quasi-sb. = limited mail in 2. (U.S. colloq.)

1887.  Pop. Sci. Monthly, March, 577. Let the great steamship founder, the limited crash through a trestle—living or dead, these men will be found at their posts.

  Hence Limitedly adv., Limitedness.

a. 1614.  Donne, Βιαθανατος (1644), 74. You see nothing is delivered by him against it, but modestly, limitedly, and perplexedly.

1656.  [? J. Sergeant], trans. T. White’s Peripat. Inst., 288. A difference of Substance distinct from corporeity and limitednesse.

1812.  Shelley, in Hogg, Life (1858), II. 91. I assume a character which is … unadapted to the limitedness of my experience.

1891.  H. Jones, Browning, 235. He pushes the limitedness of human knowledge into a disqualification of it to reach truth at all.

1895.  Q. Rev., July, 76. We in London need such limitedly local relaxations.