limb-meal, adv. Obs. exc. arch. and dial.
(ˈlɪmmiːl)
Forms: see limb n.1; also 3 -mele, -meel(e, 5–7 -meale, 9 dial. limb-mull, limmel.
[OE. limmǽlum: see limb n.1 and -meal.]
Limb from limb, limb by limb; piecemeal.
| c 1050 Voc. in Wr.-Wülcker 440/36 Membratim, limmælum. c 1205 Lay. 25618 He þer þene beore of-sloh, and hine lim⁓mele [c 1275 leome-mele] to-droh. a 1225 Juliana 79 Þer ase wilde deor limmel to luken ham. c 1290 Beket 1779 in S. Eng. Leg., Þei ich beo drawe lime mele. 1387 Trevisa Higden (Rolls) V. 281 Maximus..was alto hakked..and i-þrowe lyme meele into Tyber. 1470–85 Malory Arthur viii. xxxvii. 330 He was drawen lymme meale. 1590 T. Fenne Frutes 41 Readie to teare in peeces, and plucke lim-meale the bodie of the bloudie tyrant. 1611 Shakes. Cymb. ii. iv. 147 O that I had her heere, to teare her Limb-meale. a 1680 Butler Rem. (1759) II. 399 Tears Cards Limb-meal without Regard of Age, Sex, or Quality, and breaks the Bones of Dice. 1709 tr. P. de Cieza's Trav. 78 Putting him to exquisite Torments and tearing his Body Limb-meal. 1860 T. Martin Horace 309 Up with their nails the earth they threw, Then limb-meal tore a coal-black ewe. 1894 S.E. Worcs. Gloss., Limmel. |
Hence † limbmeally adv., in same sense.
| 1569 T. Underdown Ovid agst. Ibis L iij b, He was..torne limmeally, that is to say, each peece from other. |