Limp, nerveless.
1833. Ruther a limpsy chain though, continued the down-easter.—John Neal, ‘The Down-Easters,’ i. 75.
1833. Let a feller be all worn out and wilted down as limpsy as a rag, so that the doctors would think he was jest ready to fly off the handle, &c.—Seba Smith (‘Major Downing’), ‘My Thirty Years Out of the Senate,’ p. 234 (1860).
1856. Why, you ’re as limsy, now, as a rag.—Mrs. Southworth, ‘Lawrence Monroe,’ p. 79 (Boston).
1862. In the mornin he was the most limpsy piece of mankind I ever did see. I ralely believe he might have been tied in a knot like an eel, he was so limber.—Seba Smith, ‘Letters of Major Jack Downing,’ Oct. 20.
1862. The Kernel ses he feels as limpsey as an eel, an I tell you it has taken the starch out of the hull of us.—Id., Aug. 14.
1865. That child … makes two steps forward before its limpsy body loses its balance, and it comes down again to its original condition in a squashy concussion with its forehead against the floor.—Elihu Burritt, ‘A Walk from London to Land’s End,’ p. 284. (N.E.D.)
1867. I understood it all the minute my hands touched the money. The paper was too limpsy. But I made sure of my fee out of the case, though,—game or no game.—I. O. Culver, ‘The Plaintiff Nonsuited,’ Atlantic Monthly, p. 591/2 (May).
