▪ I. limbo1
(ˈlɪmbəʊ)
[L., abl. sing. of limbus (see limbus), occurring in such phrases as in or e (= in or out of) limbo. Cf. It. limbo and limb n.2]
1. a. A region supposed to exist on the border of Hell as the abode of the just who died before Christ's coming, and of unbaptized infants.
More explicitly limbo patrum, limbo infantum or limbo of the infants: see limbus.
| 13.. St. Erkenwolde 291 in Horstm. Altengl. Leg. (1881) 272 Quene þou herghedes helle-hole & hentes hom þer-oute,..oute of limbo, þou laftes me þer. [1377 Langl. P. Pl. B. xvi. 84 The deuel..Bar hem forth boldely..And made of holy men his horde in lymbo inferni.] c 1450 Mirour Saluacioun 198 How crist entred hell To glad our haly fadres in Lymbo as clerkes tell. c 1460 Towneley Myst. xxv. 96 Thise lurdans that in lymbo dwell. Ibid. 213 Lymbo is lorne, alas! 1483 Caxton G. de la Tour D vj b, After her deth she [Eve]..fylle in a derke and obscure pryson..that was the lymbo of helle. 1526 Pilgr. Perf. (W. de W. 1531) 53 b, After theyr deth they went to lymbo patrum a place of derkenes nye to hell. 1528 Tindale Obed. Chr. Man To Rdr. 19 Of what texte thou provest hell, will a nother prove purgatory, a nother lymbo patrum. 1605 Heywood Troub. Q. Eliz. Wks. 1874 I. 221, I am freed from limbo, to be sent to hell. a 1658 Cleveland Wks. (1687) 81 'Tis a just Idea of a Limbo of the Infants. 1749 Wesley Wks. (1872) X. 101 In what condition were they [the Old Testament Saints] while thus detained in limbo? 1818 Moore Fudge Fam. Paris 57 Souls in Limbo, damn'd half way. 1857–8 Sears Athan. xviii. 163 If a spiritual body is desirable at all, why are the saints kept waiting for it in limbo? |
b. in extended use (see quots.).
| 1643 Sir T. Browne Relig. Med. i. §54 Methinks amongst those many subdivisions of Hell, there might have been one Limbo left for these. 1667 Milton P.L. iii. 495 All these upwhirld aloft Fly o're the backside of the World farr off Into a Limbo large and broad, since calld The Paradise of Fools. 1712 Addison Spect. No. 297 ¶7 The Picture which he [Milton] draws of the Limbo of Vanity. 1851 Carlyle Sterling iii. i. (1872) 163 As yet my books are lying as ghost books, in a limbo on the banks of a certain Bristolian Styx. |
† c. used gen. for: Hell, Hades. Obs.
| 1581 T. Howell Devises D iij b, And let my Ghost in Lymbo lowe be led, To Tantals thyrst, or prowde Ixions wheele. 1582 Stanyhurst æneis ii. (Arb.) 56 And with hoat assalting too Limbo we plunged a number [L. multos demittimus Orco]. 1612 Proceedings of Virginia v. 30 in Capt. Smith's Wks. (Arb.) 111 These vninhabited Iles; which (for the extremitie of gusts, thunder, raine, stormes, and il weather) we called Limbo. 1634 W. Tirwhyt tr. Balzac's Lett. 270 She hath filled Limbo with her paricidiall leachery. a 1637 B. Jonson Baccanall Tri. 50 in T. Morton New Eng. Canaan (1637) 147 Minos, Eacus and Radamand, Princes of Limbo. |
2. transf. and fig. a. Prison, confinement, durance; also, † pawn. slang.
| 1590 Greene Neuer too Late (1600) 56 If coyne want, then eyther to Limbo, or else clap vp a commodity. 1590 Shakes. Com. Err. iv. ii. 32. 1613 ― etc. Hen. VIII, v. iv. 67, I haue some of 'em in Limbo Patrum. 1649 Evelyn Mem. (1857) III. 51 So that John is now faster in Limbo than Ever. 1664 Butler Hud. ii. i. 100 On she went, To find the Knight in Limbo pent. 1687 Congreve Old Bach. ii. i, I let him have all my ready Mony to redeem his great Sword from Limbo. 1798 Beresford in Ld. Auckland's Corr. (1862) III. 441–2 We have colonels and lieutenant⁓colonels, and majors and captains enough in limbo. 1843 Carlyle Past & Pr. ii. viii, Monks..must not speak too loud, under penalty of foot-gyves, limbo, and bread and water. 1849 Cobden Speeches 84 Men of bad character, who have been put into limbo, or flogged. 1881 Besant & Rice Chapl. of Fleet i. x. (1883) 79 There were, besides the residents.., poets not yet in limbo. |
b. Any unfavourable place or condition, likened to Limbo; esp. a condition of neglect or oblivion to which persons or things are consigned when regarded as outworn, useless, or absurd.
| 1642 Milton Apol. Smect. Wks. 1851 III. 275, I am met with a whole ging of words and phrases not mine, for he hath..mangl'd them in this his wicked Limbo. 1728 Pope Dunc. i. 238 O! pass more innocent, in infant state, To the mild Limbo of our Father Tate. 1828 Moore (title) Limbo of Lost Reputations. 1866 J. Martineau Ess. I. 60 Comte..dismisses religion into limbo. 1874 Motley Barneveld II. xiii. 89 To send the Golden Bull itself to the limbo of worn out constitutional devices. 1894 J. Knight Garrick ix. 164 The piece..ran for eleven nights before descending into the limbo of oblivion. |
c. A type of anti-submarine mortar. Also attrib. or as adj.
| 1955 Times 20 June 4/6 The frigate Grenville fired live projectiles from her Limbo anti-submarine weapon. Ibid., The Limbo..is a multi-barrelled mortar of large calibre, linked automatically with a submarine detector of advanced design. 1956 Jane's Fighting Ships 1956–57 240/2 Have some side armour as well as deck protection; limbo type anti-submarine rocket throwers. 1957 Jane's Fighting Ships 1957–58 42/1 The two Limbos can each fire a pattern of large depth bombs with great accuracy. 1961 T. D. Manning Brit. Destroyer 24 The Squid has been improved on by Limbo which..is not fitted in destroyers but only in frigates. |
3. attrib., as † limbo-dungeon; limbo-like adj.; † limbo-lake, the ‘pit’ of Hell (cf. lake n.4 3).
| 1555–8 T. Phaer æneid iii. G iv b, For Cyrces yle must furst be seen, and lands of Lymbo lake [L. infernique lacus]. 1590 Spenser F.Q. i. ii. 32 What voice of damned Ghost from Limbo lake. 1696 Toland Christianity not Myst. 27 They should not say they are in Limbo-Dungeon. 1748 Thomson Cast. Indol. 458 His father's ghost from limbo⁓lake, the while, Sees this. 1820 Scott Abbot xvi, From haunted spring and grassy ring, Troop goblin, elf, and fairy;..To Limbo-lake, Their way they take. 1848 Geo. Eliot in Cross Life (1885) I. 179, I am even now..in a very shattered, limbo-like mental condition. |
▪ II. ‖ limbo2
[Zulu: see quot. 1899.]
A South African name for a kind of coarse calico.
| 1891 Pall Mall G. 9 Nov. 6/2 This present is accompanied by a quantity of limbo (a coarse quality of calico). 1896 A. B. Balfour 1200 Miles in Waggon 62 Bright-coloured cotton stuff, limbo, as it is called here. 1899 B. Mitford J. Ames ii. 14 A dark blue fabric, commonly called by the whites ‘limbo’, being a corruption of the native name ‘ulembu’, which signifieth ‘web’. |
▪ III. limbo3
(ˈlɪmbəʊ)
[W. Indian name.]
A dance in which the dancer bends backwards and passes under a horizontal bar raised only a few inches off the ground. Also attrib.
| 1956 Caribbean Q. IV. iii. & iv. 204 The firemen also had a characteristic dance similar to the ‘limbo’, with the body bent sharply backward, knees projecting, and lower legs almost on the pavement. 1958 Daily Express 22 Apr. 7/3 The Princess should take home with her memories of gay calypsos and limbos. 1963 Pix 2 Mar. 38 Peters said that he first encountered the Limbo on his Pacific cruise..when it was merely known as ‘going under the pole’. 1966 Observer 13 Feb. 40/4 Trinidad's champion limbo dancer..can ease himself blindfold under a bar which is only 8 in. from the floor and is sometimes soaked in spirit and set alight. 1971 Country Life 18 Feb. 372 And watching limbo ladies slither and men blow fire. 1972 E. Hargreaves Fair Green Weed i. 12 He..found the pair of them sitting on the patio, watching some limbo dancers on the beach. 1973 Sunday Advocate-News (Barbados) 21 Jan. 11/3 More variety should be introduced into these shows, including more steelband music, limbo dancing and folk dancing. |