▪ I. † jimp, n.1 Sc. Obs.
(dʒɪmp)
Forms: 5 gimp, 6 gymp(e, iymp, iimp.
[Perh. connected with jimp a.]
1. A minute or subtle point; a trifling distinction; a quirk, subtlety; a tittle.
| c 1470 Henryson Mor. Fab. xii. (Wolf & Lamb) xvi, O man of law, let be thy subteltie, With nyce gimpis, and fraudis intricait. 1513 Douglas æneis i. Prol. 124 For ane iymp or a bourd, I pray ȝou note me nocht at euery wourd. 1563 Winȝet Wks. (1890) II. 15 To eschew al occasioun of wane stryfe..for Iimpis of Grammar or sik triflis. 1596 Dalrymple tr. Leslie's Hist. Scot. ix. 226 In the leist iot or iimp tha neuer brak the papes authoritie. |
2. A trick, prank.
| 1572 Satir. Poems Reform. xxxi. 132 Nor with the hous of Guyis to mell, Quha is als godles as thair sell, And kens thair gymps, I trow. |
▪ II. jimp, n.2
see jump n.2
▪ III. jimp, a. (adv.) Sc. and north. dial.
(dʒɪmp)
Forms: 6 gymp, (gympt), 8–9 gimp, 8– jimp.
[Known in Sc. since c 1500; origin obscure. It has been compared with gim a., ‘smart, spruce’, of the same age, and with jump a., exact, precise, which appears later; but in neither case is the sense congruous.]
1. Slender, slim, delicate, graceful, neat. (A Scotch or northern word, introduced in 19th c. into English literature.)
| 1508 Dunbar Tua Mariit Wemen 69 Gymp, iolie, and gent, richt ioyus, and gentryce, I suld at fairis be found. 1513 Douglas æneis vi. x. 45 Apon his harp.. Now with gymp fingeris doing stringis smyte. Ibid. xii. Prol. 121 Gymp gerraflouris thar royn levys vnschet. a 1550 Christis Kirke Gr. iii, Of all thir madynis..Wes nane sa gympt as Gillie. 1719 Lady Wardlaw Hardy Knute i. 27 Her girdle shawed her middle gimp. 1788 Burns ‘O, were I on Parnassus' hill’ ii, I see thee dancing o'er the green, Thy waist sae jimp, thy limbs sae clean. 1844 Willis Lady Jane ii. 598 Satin waistcoat..Becoming to a youth so jimp and slim. a 1845 Barham Ingol. Leg., Knt. & Lady xii, Then his left arm he placed Round her jimp, taper waist. 1893 Northumbld. Gloss., Gimp (g soft), thin, neat in figure. |
2. Scanty; barely full; bare (measure).
| 1768 Ross Helenore i. 6 An' howsoon as the jimp three raiths was gane. 1868 Atkinson Cleveland Gloss., Jimp,..3. small, scanty, deficient in measure. Mod. Sc. I fancy he has given you but jimp measure to-day. |
3. Comb., as jimp-waisted.
| 1826 J. Wilson Noct. Ambr. Wks. 1855 I. 192 That bonny dark-haired..jimp-waisted lassie. |
B. adv. Barely, scarcely.
| 1814 Scott Diary 10 Aug. in Lockhart, These islanders..are sober, good-humoured, and friendly—but jimp honest. 1893 Stevenson Catriona xv, He had jimp said the word. |
Hence ˈjimply adv., slenderly, scantily; ˈjimpness, slenderness.
| 1816 Scott Old Mort. xxxvii, We are jimply provided for in beds rather. 1885 Chamb. Jrnl. II. 43 Not of the jimpness engendered of corsets, but of nature. |