▪ I. imp, n.
(ɪmp)
Forms: 1 impa, (? impe), 3–7 impe, 4–6 ympe, (5 hympe, 6 himp, emp, 6–7 ymp), 6– imp.
[OE. impa (or ? impe), pl. impan, goes with impian to imp: see next. Cf. also mod.G. impf, Da. ympe, Sw. ymp. Welsh imp graft, scion, is from ME. Fr. ente (whence MDu. ente, Du. ent) is ultimately from the same source.]
† 1. A young shoot of a plant or tree; a sapling; a sucker, slip, scion. Obs.
| c 897 K. ælfred Gregory's Past. xlix. 381 Sio haliᵹe ᵹesomnung Godes folces, ðæt eardað on æppeltunum, ðonne hie wel begað hira plantan & hiera impan, oð hie fulweaxne beoð. a 1225 Ancr. R. 378 Ȝunge impen me bigurt mid þornes, leste bestes ureten ham þeo hwule þet heo beoð meruwe. c 1386 Chaucer Monk's Prol. 68 Of fieble trees ther comen wrecched ympes. c 1425 Seven Sag. (P.) 1697 The lorde hadde an hympe gode, Tha[t] in a fayr herber stood. 1578 Lyte Dodoens iv. lxi. 524 The first springes or tender impes of the Artechok. 1601 Holland Pliny xiii. viii, About the foot of the tree it bears many yong imps, which are such suckers of the sap, that they draw away all the goodnesse. 1669 Worlidge Syst. Agric. (1681) 104 When the young Imps or Seedlings are sprung up, you must be very careful in keeping them from weeds. 1672 Marvell Reh. Transp. i. 133 [Ivy] is a sneaking insinuating Imp. |
† b. In fig. context, applied to persons. Obs.
| 1377 Pol. Poems (Rolls) I. 218 Thus ben this lordes ileid ful lowe; The stok is of the same rote; An ympe biginnes for to growe. 1596 Spenser F.Q. iv. xi. 26 [Oxford] that faire City, wherein make abode So many learned impes, that shoote abrode, And with their braunches spred all Britany. |
† 2. A shoot or slip used in grafting; a graft.
| 1377 Langl. P. Pl. B. v. 137, I was..þe couentes Gardyner for to graffe ympes. 1483 Cath. Angl. 195/1 An Impe, ubi A grafte. 1513 Bradshaw St. Werburge i. 2004 The lytell graffe or ympe transcendeth the tree. 1599 H. Buttes Dyets drie Dinner D viij, An Almond-tree-Imp, inserted to a Mastick stick. 1669 W. Simpson Hydrol. Chym. 270 The scions, imps, and grafts of fruit trees. 1706 Phillips, Imp,..a kind of Graft to be set in a Tree. |
† b. In fig. context, applied to persons. Obs.
| 1583 Golding Calvin on Deut. xxi. 124 If this bee happened to the natural braunches what shall become of the impes (that are graffed into the Tree)? 1612–15 Bp. Hall Contempl., O.T. ix. i, God never did more for the naturall olive, then for that wild Impe which hee hath graffed in. 1613–16 W. Browne Brit. Past. i. ii. (N.), Poor Doridon, the impe Whom nature seem'd to have selected forth To be ingraffed on some stocke of worth. |
3. Scion (esp. of a noble house); offspring, child (usually male). Obs. since 17th c., exc. as a literary archaism, or as partly continued in 5.
| c 1412 Hoccleve Ball. Pr. Henry in De Reg. Princ. (Roxb.) 195 In the presence Of Kynges ympe and Princes worthynesse. 1548 Hall Chron., Hen. VIII 242 b, That his sonne prince Edward, that goodly ympe, maie long reigne over you. 1575 Appius & Virg. i. in Hazl. Dodsley IV. 112 By her I have a virgin pure, an imp of heavenly race. 1584 Epit. Ld. Denbigh in Beauchamp Chapel, Warwick, Heere resteth the body of the noble Impe Robert of Dvdley..sonne of Robert Erle of Leycester. 1611 Speed Hist. Gt. Brit. vii. xii. 264 His sad lamenting sonne Faustus, a vertuous Impe of those impious parents. 1808 Scott Marm. i. Introd. 37 My imps,..hardy, bold, and wild, As best befits the mountain child. a 1845 J. Baillie Poems, To a Child i, Whose imp art thou, with dimpled cheek,..thou urchin sly? |
b. = ‘child’, fig. and transf. Obs. or arch.
| c 1380 Wyclif Wks. (1880) 334 A frere þat is a confessour to kyng or to a duke is ympe or pere to a bishop. 1536 Act 28 Hen. VIII, c. 10 §1 Dyvers sedicious..persones, being impes of the said Bisshopp of Rome. 1555 W. Watreman Fardle Facions ii. viii. 179 Enuie cannot dwell ther, ne none of her impes. 1621 Quarles Div. Poems, Esther vii, Art thou..that Impe of Glory? 1645 E. Pagitt Heresiogr. (1647) 126 This opinion is easily discovered to be an Impe of Pelagianisme. 1796 Burke Bill for shorten. Durat. Parl. Wks. 1812 V. 386 My honourable friend has not brought down a spirited imp of chivalry to win the first atchievement. 1809 W. Irving Knickerb. vii. iv. (1849) 400 That imp of fame and prowess, the headstrong Peter. |
4. spec. A ‘child’ of the devil, or of hell. a. with parentage expressed: Applied to wicked men, and to petty fiends or evil spirits.
| 1526 Pilgr. Perf. (W. de W. 1531) 63 Suche appereth as aungelles, but in very dede they be ymps of serpentes. 1538 Bale Gods Promises in Dodsley O. Pl. (1780) I. 13 An ympe though I be of helle, deathe and dampnacyon. 1563 Homilies ii. Rebellion iv. (1859) 577 Those most wicked imps of the devil. 1583 Stubbes Anat. Abus. i. (1877) 111 An impe of Sathan. c 1648 Billingsley Infancy of World (1658) 94 The Devil's Impe the Pope. 1706–7 Farquhar Beaux Strat. iv. ii, What Witchcraft now have these two Imps of the Devil been a hatching here? a 1806 K. White Poems, Despair 46 Hither, ye furious imps of Acheron. 1821 Scott Kenilw. xxiv, Either Flibbertigibbet..or else an imp of the devil in good earnest. |
b. Hence, with omission of the qualification: A little devil or demon, an evil spirit; esp. in 17th c., one of those with which witches were supposed to be familiar; now chiefly in art and mythology.
| 1584 R. Scot Discov. Witchcr. vii. xv. (1886) 122 They haue so fraied vs with bull beggers, spirits, witches,..tritons, centaurs, dwarfes, giants, imps. 1681 Glanvill Sadducismus i. (1682) 18 The Imps of Witches are sometimes wicked spirits..that have been Sorcerers..in this life. 1693 C. Mather Invis. World (1862) 83 We have seen even some of their own Children, so dedicated unto the Devil, that..the Imps have sucked them, and rendred them Venemous to a Prodigy. 1706 Phillips, Imp, a familiar Spirit, said to be attending upon Witches. 1829 Carlyle Misc., Voltaire (1872) II. 134 A scoffing man..shows more of the imp than of the angel. a 1845 Barham Ingol. Leg., Truants iii, Three more frolicsome Imps, I ween, Beelzebub's self hath seldom seen. 1882 Froude Carlyle II. 53 Enjoying his work [of destruction] with the pleasure of some mocking imp. |
c. Applied to a human being. (Often humorous.)
| 1633 D. R[ogers] Treat. Sacram. i. 123 Will not this teach all the rest (except Impes and degenerate) to be much more so? 1750 Gray Long Story 44 Thereabouts there lurk'd A wicked Imp they call a Poet. 1857 Locker Lond. Lyrics, To Printer's Devil 1 Small imp of blackness, off at once. |
5. A mischievous child (having a little of ‘the devil’ in him); a young urchin: often used playfully.
(App. partly a continuation of sense 3, but largely influenced by 4 b.)
| 1642 in Miss Hickson Irel. 17th Cent. (1884) I. xviii. 196 Six Irish children of that town, who suddenly fell upon him,..so that he by these wicked young imps, who were none of them..above eight years of age, quickly after died. 1727 Swift Gulliver iv. viii, I once caught a young male [Yahoo] of three years old,..but the little imp fell a squalling, and scratching, and biting. 1826 Scott in Lockhart i. note, I was never a dunce..but an incorrigibly idle imp. 1859 W. Collins Q. of Hearts (1875) 24 With a wild imp of a Welsh boy following her as guide and groom. |
† 6. A young man, a youth; fellow, man, ‘lad’, ‘boy’. (Cf. child, sense 7.) Obs.
| 1579 Lyly Euphues (Arb.) 33–5 There dwelt in Athens a young gentleman of great patrimony... It happened this young Impe to ariue at Naples. Ibid. 108 This is..to admonish all young Imps and nouises in loue. 1648 Gage West Ind. ix. 26 The mendicant Franciscan Fryers voweth..poverty..Yet those wretched Impes live in those parts as though they had never vowed. 1889 R. Buchanan Heir of Linne i, Room there, you imps and loons. |
7. A piece added on, to eke out, lengthen out, or enlarge something. (Cf. imp v. 5.) † a. An additional tag to a bell-rope so that more than one person may pull at once: = eke n.1 2 a. b. dial. An addition to a beehive consisting of a wreath or wreaths placed underneath to increase its height: = eke n.1 2 b. c. dial. A length of twisted hair in a fishing-line.
| 1595 Vestry Bks. (Surtees) 123 Paid for vj emps to y⊇ bell ropes, xijd. 1605 Ibid. 142 More for bell imps, xiiij d. 1606 Ibid. 144 For the greet bell ympes of the length of six feddom. 1615 W. Lawson Orch. & Gard. iii. x. (1668) 78 An imp is, three or four wreaths wrought at the Hive, the same compass, to raise the Hive withall. 1788 W. Marshall Yorksh. II. Gloss. (E.D.S.), Imp, an eke placed under a bee-hive. 1846 Brockett N.C. Gloss (ed. 3) I. 234 An addition to a beehive is called an ‘imp’, so also is a length of hair twisted, as forming part of a fishing-line. |
8. attrib. and Comb., as † imp-garden, imp-garth, imp-yard (nursery-garden, garden of plants), † imp-tree; imp-like adj.
| 1337–8 Durham Acc. Rolls (Surtees) I. 34 In..semine canab. emp. pro le ympyard. c 1345 Orpheo 68 They seten hem down all thre, Fayr under an ympe-tre. 1446–7 Durham Acc. Rolls (Surtees) I. 84 Pro custodia orti Cellerarii vocati ympgarth. 1577 B. Googe Heresbach's Husb. (1586) 76 The orderyng of an Impe Garden..wherein as in a parke the young plantes are nourished. 1675 Evelyn Terra (1729) 35 Where Imp-Gardens are poor, the tender Plant does seldom thrive. 1831 J. Hunter Hist. Deanery Doncaster II. 6 An imp-yard is what is now known by the term nursery-garden, as may be seen in The Booke of Husbandry by Barnaby Googe. 1866 Carlyle Remin. i. 146 What a childlike and yet half imp-like volume of laughter lay in Frank. |
▪ II. imp, v.
(ɪmp)
Forms: see the n.
[OE. impian (rare) = OHG. impfôn (rare), MHG. and Ger. impfen, beside which OHG. had (more commonly) impitôn, MHG. imp(e)ten. Da. ympe, Sw. ympa are from a LG. *impen; Welsh impio is from Eng. F. enter (whence MDu. enten, inten, Du. enten, MLG. enten) is supposed to be ultimately from the same source.
The history of this vb. and the prec. n. is in some points obscure, from want of evidence. The corresponding F. enter to graft, ente (for *empte) graft, are referred by Darmesteter, etc., to late L. *emputāre, *emputa, the latter neuter pl. of Gr. ἔµϕυτος, -ον implanted, engrafted: cf. ἐµϕύειν to implant, ἐµϕυτεύειν to implant, engraft, ἐµϕυτεία implanting, engrafting. (There is evidence in the Salic Law for a med.L. impotus, inpotus, scion, graft.) This was presumably the source also of OHG. impitôn (not impfitôn), MHG. imp(e)ten; though some would refer it to L. putāre to prune. OE. impian, OHG. impfôn, was evidently, from the OHG. lautverschiebung, a word of earlier adoption, but was prob. derived in some way from the same Gr. source (? from ἐµϕύ-ειν); of this the OE. n. impa (hardly impe) must then have been a derivative, on the analogy of agent-nouns in -a; so mod.Ger. impf from impfen.]
† 1. trans. To graft, engraft. Obs.
| c 1000 Gerefa in Anglia IX. 262 On længtene ereᵹian and impian, beana sawan, winᵹeard settan. 1377 Langl. P. Pl. B. ix. 147 Impe on an ellerne, and if þine apple be swete, Mochel merueile me þynketh. 1413 Pilgr. Sowle (Caxton 1483) iv. ii. 58 Vpon that braunche was ymped a graf that was taken fro a free appel tree. 1553 T. Wilson Rhet. 26 b, To ympe or graffe yong settes. 1681 Burnet Hist. Ref. (1865) II. 530 He gave himself to gardening and used to graft and imp with his own hand. |
† 2. To plant (young shoots). Obs. rare.
| c 1420 Pallad. on Husb. iii. 142 Then kest adoun thi scions here and there, And ympe in oon in euery stikis place. |
3. transf. and fig. from 1 and 2. To ‘engraft’, implant; to inlay, set or fix in; to ‘engraft’ (as by marriage) in a family. arch.
| 1340–70 Alisaunder 616 A brem brasen borde..Imped in iuory..With goode siluer & golde gailich atired. c 1400 Rom. Rose 5137 But Love..was so imped in my thought. c 1425 Hampole's Psalter Metr. Pref. 50 Copyed has þis Sauter ben of yuel men of lollardry, And afturward hit has bene sene ympyd in wiþ eresy. 1596 Spenser F.Q. iv. ix. 4 That headlesse tyrants tronke he reard from ground, And, having ympt the head to it agayne..made it so to ride as it alive was found. 1612–15 Bp. Hall Contempl., O.T. xx. ii. (Jehu and Jehoram), Nothing is more dangerous than to be imped in a wicked family; this relation too often draws in a share both of sinne and punishment. 1613–16 W. Browne Brit. Past. ii. ii, And when thy temple's well deserving bayes Might impe a pride in thee to reach thy praise. 1647 Trapp Comm. Matt. i. 8 It was because they were imped in the wicked family of Ahab. 17.. Brown On Rom. vi. 5 (Jam.) Believers are so closely united to Christ, as that they have been imped with him, like an imp joined to an old stock. 1876 Blackie Songs Relig. & Life 140 The new doctrine, which the times had imped Into his budding soul. |
4. Falconry. To engraft feathers in the wing of a bird, so as to make good losses or deficiencies, and thus restore or improve the powers of flight; hence, allusively, with reference to ‘taking higher flights’, enlarging one's powers, and the like. In various constructions: † a. To imp feathers into or in a wing, etc. Obs.
| 1477 Paston Lett. III. No. 794. 185 Like as the fawcon Which is alofte, tellith scorne to loke a down On hym that wont was her feders to pyke and ympe. 1580 Lyly Euphues (Arb.) 249 Ymping a fether to make me flye, when thou oughtest rather to cut my wing for feare of soaring. 1589 Nashe Pasquil & Marf. 11 Such an Eccho, as multiplies euery word..and ympes so many feathers vnto euery tale, that it flyes with all speede into euery corner of the Realme. 1641 Brome Joviall Crew ii. Wks. 1873 III. 374 To see a swallow..with a white feather imp'd in her tail. 1706 Phillips, To Imp a Feather in a Hawk's Wing (among Falconers), to add a new piece from an old broken stump. |
b. To imp a wing (or bird) with feathers. to imp the wings of: to strengthen or improve the flight of.
| 1596 Spenser Hymn Heav. Beautie 135 Gathering plumes of perfect speculation, To impe the wings of thy high flying mynd. 1598 Drayton Heroic. Ep. v. 78 Their Buzzard-wings, imp'd with our Eagles Plumes. a 1618 Sylvester Posthumi Sonn. iv, Imping his broken wings with better plumes. 1648 Milton Sonn. to Fairfax, The false North displays Her broken league to imp their serpent-wings. 1792 Wolcott (P. Pindar) Ep. Ld. Macartney 40 And [Fortune] with an Eagle's pinion imps an Owl. 1816 Southey Lay of Laureate Proem ii, My spirit imp'd her wings for stronger flight. 1852 Jerdan Autobiog. II. xviii. 251 At the same time Barry Cornwall first imped his wing in my grateful pages. 1886 Swinburne Misc. 145 The highest flight that Wordsworth's muse could attain when her wings were imped with plumes of religious doctrine. |
c. To imp wings on or to a person; to imp with wings.
| 1633 G. Herbert Temple, Easter Wings 9 If I imp my wing on thine, Affliction shall advance the flight in me. 1635 Heywood Londoni Sinus Salutis Wks. 1874 IV. 289 These are Impt with no Icarian wings, But Plumes Immortall. 1669 Addr. hopeful yng. Gentry Eng. 34 To see a Gallant flutter..with no other wings than his Taylor has imp'd on. 1697 Dryden Virg. Georg. iv. 439 Imp'd with Wings, The Grubs proceed to Bees with pointed Stings. 1732 Pope Ep. Bathurst 41 Blest paper-credit!..That lends Corruption lighter wings to fly! Gold imp'd by thee can compass hardest things. 1814 Cary Dante, Paradise xxxii. 70 Behoved That circumcision in the males should imp The flight of innocent wings. |
¶ App. by a misunderstanding of the hawking term, taken in the sense of ‘To clip’.
| 1657 Bp. H. King Poems i. ii. (1843) 9 God shall imp their pride, and let them see They are but fools in a sublime degree. 1683 Kennett tr. Erasm. on Folly 39 But imp the wings of his towering ambition. Ibid. 147 Her soaring wings are imp'd and all her enlivening faculties clogged. |
5. To extend, lengthen, enlarge, add to; to eke out (that which is short or deficient); to mend, repair; to add on a piece to. (Cf. imp n. 7.)
| 1592 Lyly Midas v. ii, A woman's tongue ympt with a barbar's will proove a razor or a raser. 1606 Chapman Mons. D'Olive Plays 1873 I. 221 All my care is for Followers to Imp out my Traine. 1661 South Serm. (1698) III. 188 An ill, restless, cross humour, which is imped with Smart, and quickned with Opposition. 1671 Clarendon Dialogues in Tracts (1727) 306 We ought to imp out these unavoidable defects with an extraordinary civility and condescension. 1828 Craven Dial., Imp, to add, to enlarge... It is a very common expression when applied to bee-hives. 1834 Sir H. Taylor Artevelde i. ii. (1849) 7 You have imped me with a new device. |
6. nonce-use. To mock like an imp or demon.
| 1839 Bailey Festus (1848) 112, I am..with the mightiest folly mocked Which ever imped a soul to madness. |
▪ III. imp
Abbreviation of imperative, imperator, imperatrix, imperfect, imperial, impersonal, important, imprimatur, imprint, improvement.