limitn.
/ˈlɪmɪt/, U.S. /ˈlɪmᵻt/ 1. † c. Prescribed period of time; spec. the prescribed period of repose after childbearing. Only in Shakespeare. Obsolete.
a. Any of the fixed points between which the possible or permitted extent, amount, duration, range of action, or variation of anything is confined; a bound which may not be passed, or beyond which something ceases to be possible or allowable.
ΘΚΠ
the world > relative properties > kind or sort > individual character or quality > quality of being special or restricted in application > quality of being restricted or limited > [noun] > limit
markOE
measurea1375
bound1393
sizec1420
banka1425
limita1425
limitationa1475
stint1509
within one's tether?1523
confine1548
tropic?1594
scantling1597
gauge1600
mound1605
boundalsa1670
meta1838
parameter1967
a1425 (?c1384) J. Wyclif Sel. Eng. Wks. (1871) III. 362 (MED) Þanne Goddis lawe myȝte freeli renne bi þe lymytis þat Crist haþ ordeyned.
1474–5 Rolls of Parl.: Edward IV (Electronic ed.) Parl. Oct. 1472 3rd Roll §7. m. 31 Beyng within the lymytes of their severall commyssions.
?1504 W. Atkinson tr. Thomas à Kempis Ful Treat. Imytacyon Cryste (Pynson) iii. viii. sig. hiiv Nat ponderinge theyr exyle & pore lymytes of reson.
1579 G. Fenton tr. F. Guicciardini Hist. Guicciardin xvi. 919 They shall see your purposes extended further, and your ambicion breake out of lymit.
1595 T. North tr. Plutarch Liues (new ed.) 2 They range..out of the boundes or limites of true apparance.
1597 W. Shakespeare Richard III iii. iii. 22 Dispatch, the limit of your lines is out. View more context for this quotation
1609 W. Shakespeare Sonnets lxxxii. sig. F2 Finding thy worth a limmit past my praise. View more context for this quotation
1651 T. Hobbes Leviathan ii. xxii. 121 For the limits of how farre such a Body shall represent the whole People.
1693 W. Congreve tr. Juvenal in J. Dryden et al. tr. Juvenal Satires xi. 221 A Wise-Man's Pow'r's the Limit of his Will.
1725 I. Watts Logick i. vi. §5 To leave Obscurities in the Sentence, by confining it within too narrow Limits.
1785 T. Reid Ess. Intellect. Powers ii. xxi. 279 Nature has set limits to the pleasures of sense.
1817 J. Mill Hist. Brit. India II. v. v. 505 For six hours..every part of the English army was engaged to the utmost limit of exertion.
1860 J. Tyndall Glaciers of Alps i. vi. 46 The limit at which the eye can appreciate differences of brightness.
1874 J. T. Micklethwaite Mod. Parish Churches 183 That subject is beyond our present limits.
1895 J. A. Beet New Life in Christ i. vi. 45 All men have..transgressed limits marked out by an authority which none can question.
1908 L. M. Montgomery Anne of Green Gables xxiii. 261 Even my imagination has its limits for I can't imagine that.
1936 Mason City (Iowa) Globe-Gaz. 5 Dec. 4/6 Brave—or maybe just foolish—is the person who places a limit on the inventive genius which resides in man.
1943 Pop. Sci. Monthly Mar. 224/2 When pursuit planes dive at 725 miles an hour, the limit of a pilot's physical abilities are very nearly reached.
1972 Cincinnati Mar. 44/2 Would you mind not going over the new 25-mile limit?
1990 Sydney Morning Herald (Nexis) 26 May 1 The plan includes a uniform limit of 0.05 per cent blood alcohol content for drivers.
2012 J. Landy How to do Things with Fictions v. ii. 138 There is a limit to what can be known about the self.
b. The action of limiting; limitation, restriction within limits. Originally and chiefly in without limit (without limit at Phrases 1).
ΘΚΠ
society > authority > subjection > restraint or restraining > restriction or limitation > [noun]
limiting1391
moderation1429
bridlingc1443
limitation1483
confine1548
restriction1554
limit1572
prescription1604
bounding1607
circumscriptiona1616
stricture1649
stinting1656
circumscribing1660
contractiona1670
confinement1678
contracting1692
handcuff1814
the world > relative properties > kind or sort > individual character or quality > quality of being special or restricted in application > quality of being restricted or limited > [noun] > restriction or limitation
definitionc1386
limiting1391
moderation1429
limitation1483
restriction1554
restraint1566
limit1572
stint1593
prescription1604
stintance1605
bounding1607
confining1608
confine1609
circumscriptiona1616
definement1643
stricture1649
stinting1656
circumscribing1660
contractiona1670
confinement1678
contracting1692
narrowing1871
1572 Treat. Treasons against Q. Elizabeth ii. f. 171 To enrich themselues without limit or measure.
1660 J. Hacon Rev. of Mr. Horn's Catechisme 3 But while I speak of limit and good order, it is fit to keep my self to what I am about.
1744 E. Young Complaint: Night the Sixth 24 Souls..Disdaining limit, or from Place, or Time.
1875 B. Jowett in tr. Plato Dialogues (ed. 2) IV. 22 Pain is the violation, and pleasure the restoration of limit.
1982 C. Rose Astrol. Counselling iii. 23 Those processes merge into general themes in the person's life via..the experience of limit, control, obstacles and restrictions in his views, ideas, speech.
2014 J. Reiman in M. Boylan Business Ethics (ed. 2) ii. 18 There is little limit on how much land I may own.
ΘΚΠ
the world > time > [noun] > stretch, period, or portion of time > definite period
fecc1000
limita1616
limitationa1616
perioda1751
the world > life > source or principle of life > birth > confinement > [noun] > childbirth or delivery > time after
limita1616
gander-montha1632
month1631
steg-month1828
puerperium1845
gander-moon1886
a1616 W. Shakespeare Winter's Tale (1623) iii. ii. 105 Lastly, h[u]rried Here, to this place, i'th' open ayre, before I haue got strength of limit . View more context for this quotation
a1616 W. Shakespeare Measure for Measure (1623) iii. i. 217 Between which time of the contract, and limit of the solemnitie. View more context for this quotation
d. Mathematics. A quantity that is the largest or the smallest that an unknown quantity, esp. a root of a given equation, can be. Now historical.
ΚΠ
1664 M. Dary Gen. Doctr. Equation (rev. ed.) sig. A3 About a Year and an half since there came to my perusal the incomparable Treatise of Florimondo de Beaun, of the nature and limits of Equations.
1684 Philos. Trans. (Royal Soc.) 14 575 To describe the Locus of a cubick Æquation. A Cardanick Æquation convenient for the purpose, (viz. such as shall have the dioristick limits rational) must have the Coefficient of the roots to be the triple of a square number.
1754 New & Compl. Dict. Arts & Sci. III. 1911/2 If −n represent the limit of the negative roots, then by assuming y = x + n the proposed equation shall be transformed into one that shall have all its roots affirmative.
1779 Philos. Trans. 1778 (Royal Soc.) 68 380 The investigation of the limits of equations is considered as one of the most important problems in algebra. The knowledge of them..is also of material service in discovering the roots themselves.
1930 Amer. Math. Monthly 37 363 There is also a proof by F. Baermanns (1717–1769). He writes that he early found out the usefulness of the theorem in the theory of limits of equations.
e. Cards. (esp. Poker). An agreed maximum bet, raise, or win.
ΘΚΠ
society > leisure > entertainment > pastimes > game > card game > [noun] > actions or tactics > bidding or staking > stake
bet1796
ante1814
limit1864
1864 W. B. Dick Amer. Hoyle 176 The limit of a game may be one dime, or the trifling sum of one thousand dollars.
1892 W. J. Florence Gentleman's Handbk. Poker 90 Before a game is commenced it is agreed that so many chips shall be the limit... No game ever should be played without a limit.
1928 Chambers's Jrnl. Jan. 116/1 He coolly raised Rymington the limit, and left his two opponents half-stupefied.
1967 A. H. Morehead Compl. Guide to Winning Poker i. 20 In draw poker, if the limit is two chips before the draw, it is usually four after the draw.
2005 G. McDonald Deal me In! iv. 54 If you want to raise the limit in a pot limit game, you count your initial call as part of the pot.
f. Finance. The amount up to which a customer of a bank is permitted to overdraw or borrow. Also in credit limit, overdraft limit.
ΚΠ
1821 Acts Gen. Assembly Virginia 15 It shall be lawful for the said rector and visitors to borrow, within the limit aforesaid.]
1866 A. Crump Pract. Treat. Banking iii. 76 The banker gives him [sc. his customer] a ‘limit’, beyond which he must not draw.
1890 Mich. School Monitor 20 Mar. 406/1 The Bay City Board of Education have come down to hard-pan. They have borrowed up to the limit, and have only enough cash to run the schools another month.
1920 J. M. Regan Financing Business xiv. 266 Except in extreme cases, it is never wise to borrow up to the limit.
1922 H. M. Carter Business Man & His Bank (Indiana Univ. thesis) i. 13 The customer can borrow up to his limit by signing a note.
1959 Changing Times June 10/1 If the amount is reasonable and the customer's balance well within his ‘limit’, the word is okay.
1989 Spy (N.Y.) Mar. 109/1 Several banks responded to his increased use of their cards by raising his credit limit.
2008 Independent Save & Spend (Nexis) 9 Feb. (Money section) 6 A letter from Abbey in November thanked me for asking for an advance overdraft facility..and gave me a £3,300 limit.
g. colloquial (originally U.S.). The worst imaginable or endurable; a person who or thing which is exasperating or intolerable; the last straw. Also: the maximum penalty. Cf. the frozen limit at frozen adj. 1b.
ΘΚΠ
the world > action or operation > adversity > [noun] > most extreme
worstc1275
extremityc1425
extreme fortune1531
exigents1588
fine1596
devil1681
limit1906
the end of the line1948
the mind > emotion > suffering > cause of mental pain or suffering > [noun] > what is most hard to bear
worstc1275
limit1906
1906 N.Y. Evening Post 7 May 1 Desertion is bad enough..but to fire at one's comrades while in the act of turning against them is—well, the limit.
1907 Westm. Gaz. 16 Aug. 2/1 They [sc. wages] are low everywhere..but Belfast is what Americans would call ‘the limit’.
1919 G. B. Shaw Heartbreak House i, in Heartbreak House, Great Catherine, & Playlets of War 18 Really! your father does seem to be about the limit.
1925 G. H. L. Mallory in E. F. Norton et al. Fight for Everest: 1924 237 That cutting against time at the end after such a day just about brought me to my limit.
1947 ‘N. Shute’ Chequer Board iii. 68 If you get anything to go before court martial, for example, I'll see they get the limit.
1987 R. Ingalls End of Trag. 27 She was thinking about all the times he'd been in the wrong and unfair to her—how this was really the limit.
2007 C. Coates First Impressions xxviii. 294 But my hair's soaking wet; it'd take hours to dry, there's no way we can go now. Oh, you are the limit!
2. † b. Contour (of the human form). Obsolete. rare.
a. A boundary, frontier; an object serving to define a boundary, a landmark. Now spec.: a boundary or terminal point considered as confining or restricting. Usually in plural.
ΘΚΠ
the world > space > relative position > condition of being external > edge, border, or margin > boundary > [noun]
goalc1350
bounda1387
list1389
finea1400
frontier1413
enda1425
limit1439
buttal1449
headroom1462
band1470
mete?1473
buttinga1475
bounder1505
pale?a1525
butrelle1546
scantlet1547
limesa1552
divisec1575
meta1587
line1595
marginc1595
closure1597
Rubicon1613
bournea1616
boundary1626
boundure1634
verge1660
terminary1670
meta1838
the world > space > relative position > condition of being external > edge, border, or margin > boundary > [noun] > land-boundary > boundary mark
markingOE
boundc1275
marka1325
merea1387
meithc1430
limit1439
doolc1440
prop1450
march1495
landmark1535
mere boundc1600
mere-mark1611
border-mark1613
bound-mark1623
bounder-mark1666
boundary-mark1878
the world > space > relative position > condition of being external > edge, border, or margin > boundary > [noun] > boundary point
buttc1425
limit1598
period1605
the world > space > relative position > condition of being external > edge, border, or margin > boundary > [noun] > land-boundary
thresholdeOE
randeOE
markeOE
mereOE
limiting1391
march1402
confrontc1430
bourne1523
limity1523
mereing1565
mark-mere1582
ring1598
land-mere1603
limit1655
field boundary1812
landimere1825
section-line1827
wad1869
1439 in H. Nicolas Proc. & Ordinances Privy Council (1835) V. 358 (MED) The cuntre comprised within tho that be now called the landes and the limites of the reme of France be grete and populus.
1474 W. Caxton tr. Game & Playe of Chesse (1883) iv. ii. 167 With in the limytes and space of the royame.
1509 H. Watson tr. S. Brant Shyppe of Fooles (de Worde) l. sig. M.v He [sc. Romulus] Instytued lymyttes or markes aboute the cyte.
1549 R. Crowley Voyce Laste Trumpet sig. Diii Let it suffise the to defende Thy limites from inuasion.
1587 J. Higgins Mirour for Magistrates (new ed.) Forrex vi T'inlarge the limetes of our kingdome wide.
1598 in Egerton Papers (Camden) 278 Chiveat Hill, being the lemyet of the Easte Marche.
1624 H. Wotton Elements Archit. i. 24 When they haue chosen the Floore, or Plot, and laid out the Limits of the Worke, wee should first of all Digge Wels and Cesternes [etc.].
1655 T. Fuller Church-hist. Brit. i. 32 The Picts Wall..being a better Limit then Fortification, served rather to define then defend the Roman Empire.
1706 in Cal. Virginia State Papers (1875) I. 109 The main street..extending from the Capitol to ye utmost Limits of the City Westward.
1737 in Colonial Rec. Pennsylvania (1851) IV. 214 Those who had anciently settled by mistake in the limits of either Province.
1823 F. Clissold Narr. Ascent Mont Blanc 23 A circle of thin haze..marked dimly the limits between heaven and earth.
1843 New Englander (New Haven, Connecticut) July 313/2 The dominion of this tribe extended to the northern limits of Connecticut.
1926 Boys' Life Jan. 23/1 Marching toward the butte that Gongola said marked the limit of his tribe's domain.
1958 W. S. Churchill Hist. Eng.-speaking Peoples IV. xii. iii. 260 Only two of these states..had outlawed slavery within their limits.
1982 ‘L. Cody’ Bad Company iii. 22 They reached the lower limits of Hampstead Heath and Claire turned off the road.
2004 D. Ohle Age of Sinatra 138 The winding, stink-water ditch that defined the limit of his property.
ΘΚΠ
the world > life > the body > bodily shape or physique > [noun]
featurec1325
making1340
staturec1380
statea1387
bonea1400
figurec1400
makec1425
corpulence1477
corsage1481
makdom1488
mouldc1550
corporature1555
frame1566
dimension1600
limit1608
set1611
timber1612
compact1646
taille1663
fabric1695
moulding1815
physique1826
tournure1827
build1832
form1849
body type1866
body build1907
somatotype1940
size1985
1608 W. Bettie Hist. Titana & Theseus sig. B3 He stept into a greene Arbour..where he first viewed each limmit, or proportrature of her bodie.
1608 W. Bettie Hist. Titana & Theseus sig. B3v Theseus..thought it very strange, that Nature should indow..such comely limmits, with such peruerse conditions.
3. † a. The tract or region defined by a boundary; plural territories, lands; bounds. Obsolete.In quot. c1692: (perhaps) a division or part of a territory.
ΘΚΠ
society > inhabiting and dwelling > inhabited place > district in relation to human occupation > a land or country > [noun]
landc725
kithc888
thedec888
earthOE
groundOE
foldOE
countryc1300
marchc1330
nationc1330
wonec1330
provincea1382
soila1400
strandc1400
terragec1440
room1468
limita1513
limitationa1527
seat1535
terrene1863
negara1955
negeri1958
a1513 R. Fabyan New Cronycles Eng. & Fraunce (1516) I. clxiii. f. lxxxxii The sayd two bretherne..entryd the lymyttys of Kynge Charlys.
1581 W. Lambarde Eirenarcha (1588) iv. xx. 619 Those Sessions were to be holden in euery limite of the Shire.
1598 W. Shakespeare Henry IV, Pt. 1 iii. i. 70 The Archdeacon hath diuided it Into three limits very equally. View more context for this quotation
1603 G. Owen Descr. Penbrokshire (1891) 161 In everye Parishe or Lymitte.
1609 W. Shakespeare Sonnets xliv. sig. D2 I would be brought, From limits farre remote, where thou doost stay. View more context for this quotation
1611 Bible (King James) Ezek. xliii. 12 Vpon the top of the mountaine, the whole limit thereof round about shall be most holy. View more context for this quotation
1667 J. Milton Paradise Lost v. 755 At length into the limits of the North They came. View more context for this quotation
c1692 R. Gibson in S. R. Gardiner Lett. & Papers 1st Dutch War (1899) I. 40 The sea government at all those places by courts of Lode manage at each, and the lesser seaports adjacent to be made limits to the greater.
1792 S. Rogers Pleasures Mem. i. 290 Great Navarre, when France and freedom bled Sought the lone limits of a forest shed.
b. Chiefly Canadian. A tract of woodland of defined extent, a timber allotment. Usually in plural.
ΘΚΠ
the world > food and drink > farming > forestry or arboriculture > lumbering > [noun] > land suitable for lumbering > unit of
limit1836
compartment1895
1836 Bytown (Ottawa) Gaz. 21 July 2/5 They entered into an agreement to effect the necessary improvements for the passage of timber..far beyond where others had previously obtained limits near the mouth.
1851 W. H. Smith Canada: Past, Present & Future II. 367 It having been proposed to reduce the size of the limits from 10 miles square to five.
1888 Harper's Mag. Mar. 550/2 The voyageur..reports the quality and quantity of timber in certain ‘limits’ or lots.
1928 Pop. Sci. Monthly Mar. 151/1 The same company that runs this drive here on the Androscoggin has a big pulp mill there, and owns timber limits up the St. Maurice.
1994 Financial Post (Canada) (Nexis) 9 Aug. (News section) 2 The blockade was intended to prevent logging trucks from reaching timber limits in McWilliams and McBeth townships.
4. Logic. = term n. 13. Now rare.
ΘΚΠ
the mind > mental capacity > philosophy > logic > logical proposition > term of a proposition > [noun]
term1551
limit1599
rheme1892
1599 T. Blundeville Art of Logike v. i. 116 Why are they [sc. material principles] called tearmes or limites? Because they lymmet a proposition..and bee the vttermost partes or bondes whereunto any proposition is to bee resolved.
1671 J. Newton Introd. Art Logick ix. 28 A solid or body, is that, which may be divided three ways, namely by length, breadth, and thickness, whose term or limit is a superficies.
1823 J. Hill in H. Aldrich Rudim. Art of Logic (new ed.) i. 7 Some additional observations will be made on the copula in the next section: until then we may take for granted that it comes always between the Subject and the Predicate; hence the latter are denominated the limits or terms, and being simple words take the name Simple Term.
1850 H. H. Munro Man. Logic i. §2. 10 By simple terms, Aristotle means the ‘limits or terms..into which a proposition is resolved’. These are the noun as subject, and the verb as predicate, e.g., avis volat.
1942 E. Kapp Greek Found. Trad. Logic ii. 29 A syllogistic horos is not necessarily one word, and what is limited (determined)—horos means limit—is in this case the proposition, not, of course, its two ‘limits’ (terms) themselves.
5. Astronomy. The greatest angular distance from the ecliptic reached by a planet on one side of it, north or south.
ΚΠ
1602 T. Blundeville Theoriques Seven Planets 108 Astronomers doe calculate the latitudes of these three Planets, hauing regard onely to the position or placing of the Epicicles in the two limits.
1715 tr. D. Gregory Elements Astron. I. i. 9 This Heliocentric Latitude is continually upon the increase, till the Planet is got as far as L, its Limit; where it is equal to the Inclination of the plane of the Planet's Orbit, to the Plane of the Ecliptic.
1797 Encycl. Brit. II. 507/2 Suppose Venus to be in the point C in her utmost north limit.
1898 P. Lowell New Observ. Planet Mercury 442 In October and November, 1896, the heliocentric latitude of the planet attained its southern limit, while in February and March, 1897, it similarly reached its northern one.
2005 N. W. Swerdlow in J. Z. Buchwald & A. Franklin Wrong for Right Reasons 43 The derivation for Saturn is shown..in which the earth is at O, the center of the epicycle C is at either limit of latitude, as the eccentricity is neglected, and the planet is at opposition P0 with the larger latitude β0.
6. Mathematics.
a. A value to which the sum of a converging series approaches progressively; a value which a function approaches progressively as the independent variable is made to approach a particular value; a geometrical figure that is approximated more and more closely by successive operations but never reached (e.g. a circle, as the number of sides of a polygon is increased).
ΚΠ
1742 C. MacLaurin Treat. Fluxions II. xxi. 421 This ratio of 2x + o to a continually decreases while o decreases, and is always greater than the ratio of 2x to a,..but it is manifest that it continually approaches to the ratio of 2x to a as its limit.
1813 J. M. Good et al. Pantologia at Polygon The area of a circle being less than that of its circumscribing polygon, and greater than that of its inscribed polygon, the circle is the limit of the inscribed and circumscribed polygons.
1818 Trans. Royal Irish Acad. 13 Science 57 The next example..arises from the integration of an equation of finite differences, and..furnishes a strong objection against deducing the properties of differential equations from the limits of finite differences.
1839 Penny Cycl. XIII. 496/2 There are two conditions which must be fulfilled before A can be called the limit of P; first, P must never become equal to A; secondly P must be capable of being made as nearly equal to A as we please.
1857 J. Wood Elem. Algebra (ed. 15) 168 This quantity, which we call the sum of the series, is the limit to which the sum of the terms approaches, but never actually attains.
1881 R. Routledge Pop. Hist. Sci. ii. 37 The circle is..said to be the limit of the inscribed polygon.
1917 Boys' Life Mar. 44/2 Mathematicians..call that last-number-that-you-never-can-get-to, the limit of the series.
2006 J. Stewart Calculus (ed. 6) ii. 67 In finding the limit of f(x) as x approaches a, we never consider x = a.
b. Each of the two values of a variable between which a definite integral is evaluated.
ΚΠ
1812 Philos. Trans. (Royal Soc.) 102 12 The first sort of terms..are integrated between the proper limits.
1844 J. Hymers Treat. Integral Calculus (ed. 3) 122 Integrals are usually required between limits.
1915 Ann. Math. 16 173 It is to show the existence of first derivatives with respect to the upper and lower limits of integration.
2009 R. Larson Calculus (ed. 8) vi. 459 One or both limits of integration are infinite.
c. The ultimate position of the point of intersection of two lines as they approach one another.
ΚΠ
1836 A. De Morgan Differential & Integral Calculus Introd. ch. xxxii A case will be found, in which the limit of an intersection is deduced.
1947 A. Robson Introd. Analyt. Geom. II. xxv. 177 Find the centre of curvature of x2/a2 + y2/b2 = 1 at (a cos t, b sin t) by finding the limit of the point of intersection of the normals at t and t + h.
1967 Math. Gaz. 51 116 The envelope is the locus of the limit of the intersection.
2005 E. A. Tevelev Projective Duality & Homogeneous Spaces i. 2 The point..is the limit of the intersection points of the tangents..as q → p.
Phrases
P1. without limit: without restriction or limitation.
ΘΚΠ
the world > existence and causation > existence > state or condition > infiniteness > [adjective]
unbegunc1000
uncircumscriptc1374
endless138.
finitea1400
measurelessc1400
infinite1413
ginningless?1440
immensec1450
unlimitedc1475
infinal?1504
interminate1533
termlessa1542
brinkless1567
without limit1572
uncompassed1577
limitlessa1586
beginningless1587
untermedc1595
boundless1599
illimitate1602
illimited1602
unbeginning1605
incomprehense1606
inconjectable1609
uncircumscribed1610
borderless1611
confinelessa1616
finelessa1616
unconfined1629
uninchoative1649
indefinite1664
incircumscript1677
imprincipiate1683
ensophic1693
interminateda1734
unhorizoned1811
unencompasseda1822
unterminated1853
1572 [see sense 1b].
1600 W. Shakespeare Much Ado about Nothing i. iii. 4 The sadnesse is without limit . View more context for this quotation
1784 Crit. Rev. Feb. 124 Our understandings may be enlarged without limit.
1866 Amer. Farmer Sept. 89/2 The demand for wholesome wine, and genuine brandy, is without limit.
1937 B. H. L. Hart Europe in Arms xxii. 284 To use force without limit and without calculation of cost may be instinctive in a hate-maddened mob, but it is the negation of statesmanship.
2001 Daily Tel. 4 Sept. 32/5 This rise would encourage further borrowing and buying, without limit.
P2.
doctrine (also method) of limits n. Mathematics now historical calculus as based on the concept of a limit (sense 6a); analysis; cf. the method of fluxions at fluxion n. 5b.
ΚΠ
1668 Philos. Trans. (Royal Soc.) 3 738 The Doctrine of Limits: Wherein..the Author shows a deep Judgement in discovering a Medium to reduce the lately found out Analytical Doctrine de Maximis & Minimis to pure Geometry.
1736 J. Colson in tr. I. Newton Method of Fluxions Annot. 187 This may always be had, either by the known Method of Limits, or by a Linear or Mechanical Construction, or by a few easy trials and suppositions.
1800 Philos. Mag. 7 343 The Method of Limits is attended with a considerable difficulty, which has no place in the ordinary Infinitesimal Calculus.
1939 C. B. Boyer Concepts of Calculus vi. 259 The method of limits he recognized to be not different from that of first and last ratios.
2008 J. C. Domingues Lacroix & Calculus v. 144 The method of limits was naturally related to the Greek method of exhaustion.
P3. within limits: to a moderate extent, up to a point; with a limited degree of freedom. Earliest in to speak within limits: to speak guardedly, cautiously, without exaggeration (now rare).
ΚΠ
1800 E. Law Speech House of Lords in Acct. Proc. Merchants Wool & Woolen Trade iv. 51 I am sure I am speaking within limits when I state that the diminution of hands employed is at least in the proportion of three persons out of four.
1832 R. Dunglison Human Physiol. II. 194 It is only within limits, that this refrigeratory action is sufficient.
1887 T. Darlington Folk-speech S. Cheshire To ‘speak i' compass’ is to speak within limits, to speak guardedly.
1918 Jrnl. Hellenic Stud. 38 124 Correction in such cases is needed within limits.
1956 R. Macaulay Towers of Trebizond xx. 228 I thought that archbishops certainly ought to protect their clergy, within limits.
1999 J. M. Coetzee Disgrace (2000) i. 3 Though by occupation she is a loose woman he trusts her, within limits.
P4. to the limit: as far or as much as is possible or permitted; esp. to the furthest extent of one's physical or mental endurance.
ΚΠ
1840 I. Steward Interdict II. i. 3 Katy knew her privilege, and stretched it to the limit.
1895 Goshen (Indiana) Mid-week News 5 June All means of transportation were tested to the limit.
1903 Atlanta (Georgia) Constit. 13 Dec. 4/1 If we are to play the world-power game to the limit, let's cut out all that ‘solemn and binding’ cant.
1957 New Biol. 22 57 These disturbing cases, which test to the limit our faith in the all-powerfulness of Natural Selection.
1992 St. Petersburg (Florida) Times (Nexis) 1 Apr. 4 Carl pushed me to the limit... I didn't think it was possible to get so mad.
2003 M. Ali Brick Lane iii. 43 A horn blared like an ancient muezzin, ululating painfully, stretching his vocal cords to the limit.
P5. over the limit: exceeding or having exceeded a stated bound or point, esp. a restriction on speed or the amount of alcohol in the blood when driving.
ΘΚΠ
the world > relative properties > quantity > sufficient quantity, amount, or degree > excessive amount or degree > excessively [phrase] > exceeding stated limit
over the limit1872
over (also above) the odds1908
the world > food and drink > drink > thirst > excess in drinking > [adjective] > drunk
fordrunkenc897
drunkena1050
cup-shottenc1330
drunka1400
inebriate1497
overseenc1500
liquor1509
fou1535
nase?1536
full1554
intoxicate1554
tippled1564
intoxicated1576
pepst1577
overflown1579
whip-cat1582
pottical1586
cup-shota1593
fox-drunk1592
lion-drunk1592
nappy1592
sack-sopped1593
in drink1598
disguiseda1600
drink-drowned1600
daggeda1605
pot-shotten1604
tap-shackled1604
high1607
bumpsy1611
foxed1611
in one's cups1611
liquored1611
love-pot1611
pot-sick1611
whift1611
owl-eyed1613
fapa1616
hota1616
inebriated1615
reeling ripea1616
in one's (or the) pots1618
scratched1622
high-flown?1624
pot-shot1627
temulentive1628
ebrious1629
temulent1629
jug-bitten1630
pot-shaken1630
toxed1635
bene-bowsiea1637
swilled1637
paid1638
soaken1651
temulentious1652
flagonal1653
fuddled1656
cut1673
nazzy1673
concerned1678
whittled1694
suckey1699
well-oiled1701
tippeda1708
tow-row1709
wet1709
swash1711
strut1718
cocked1737
cockeyed1737
jagged1737
moon-eyed1737
rocky1737
soaked1737
soft1737
stewed1737
stiff1737
muckibus1756
groggy1770
muzzeda1788
muzzya1795
slewed1801
lumpy1810
lushy1811
pissed1812
blue1813
lush1819
malty1819
sprung1821
three sheets in the wind1821
obfuscated1822
moppy1823
ripe1823
mixed1825
queer1826
rosined1828
shot in the neck1830
tight1830
rummy1834
inebrious1837
mizzled1840
obflisticated1840
grogged1842
pickled1842
swizzled1843
hit under the wing1844
obfusticatedc1844
ebriate1847
pixilated1848
boozed1850
ploughed1853
squiffy?1855
buffy1858
elephant trunk1859
scammered1859
gassed1863
fly-blown1864
rotten1864
shot1864
ebriose1871
shicker1872
parlatic1877
miraculous1879
under the influence1879
ginned1881
shickered1883
boiled1886
mosy1887
to be loaded for bear(s)1888
squiffeda1890
loaded1890
oversparred1890
sozzled1892
tanked1893
orey-eyed1895
up the (also a) pole1897
woozy1897
toxic1899
polluted1900
lit-up1902
on (also upon) one's ear1903
pie-eyed1903
pifflicated1905
piped1906
spiflicated1906
jingled1908
skimished1908
tin hat1909
canned1910
pipped1911
lit1912
peloothered1914
molo1916
shick1916
zigzag1916
blotto1917
oiled-up1918
stung1919
stunned1919
bottled1922
potted1922
rotto1922
puggled1923
puggle1925
fried1926
crocked1927
fluthered1927
lubricated1927
whiffled1927
liquefied1928
steamed1929
mirackc1930
overshot1931
swacked1932
looped1934
stocious1937
whistled1938
sauced1939
mashed1942
plonked1943
stone1945
juiced1946
buzzed1952
jazzed1955
schnockered1955
honkers1957
skunked1958
bombed1959
zonked1959
bevvied1960
mokus1960
snockered1961
plotzed1962
over the limit1966
the worse for wear1966
wasted1968
wired1970
zoned1971
blasted1972
Brahms and Liszt?1972
funked up1976
trousered1977
motherless1980
tired and emotional1981
ratted1982
rat-arsed1984
wazzed1990
mullered1993
twatted1993
bollocksed1994
lashed1996
1872 18th Rep. Postmaster Gen. App. (Q) 43 in Parl. Papers (C. 645) XVIII. 483 Where the amount they wish to deposit is over the limit, they, in a measure, evade the restriction.
1900 N.Y. Times 6 May 10/5 Actual play ran three minutes over the limit.
1956 Pop. Sci. Aug. 228/2 Fifteen cars (but no trucks ) had passed us, all over the limit.
1966 Daily Tel. 11 Aug. 26/6 Being in charge of a vehicle while ‘over the limit’ can lead..to up to four months' imprisonment.
2009 Sydney Morning Herald (Nexis) 10 Dec. 32 When you drive at 30 to 40km/h over the limit, the fine is $647. Why not round it off?
P6.
limit of proportionality n. Mechanics = proportional limit n. at proportional n. and adj. Compounds.
ΘΚΠ
the world > matter > physics > mechanics > force > stress or force exerted and tending to deform > [noun] > law of proportion of stress or strain > maximum stress keeping proportion
limit of proportionality1882
proportional limit1906
1882 Minutes Proc. Inst. Civil Engineers 67 432 Once this range—which the Author [sc. J. Bauschinger] proposes to call the limit of proportionality—is passed, the extensions become gradually greater and greater under successive equal increments of load.
1930 Engineering 3 Jan. 31/1 The figures for limit of proportionality..were obtained from stress-strain diagrams.
2005 T. H. G. Megson Struct. & Stress Anal. (ed. 2) viii. 199 Beyond the limit of proportionality the material extends plastically.
P7. colloquial. to go the limit: (a) to go to the extreme; (b) (Sport) to last the stated number of rounds or the full time; (c) to engage in sexual activity up to and including intercourse (cf. to go all the way at way n.1 and int.1 Phrases 1a(c)(i)).
ΘΚΠ
the world > physical sensation > sexual relations > sexual activity > engage in sexual activity [verb (intransitive)] > have sexual intercourse > as opposed to kissing, petting, etc.
to go all the way1924
to go the limit1925
society > leisure > sport > types of sport or game > fighting sports > boxing > box [verb (intransitive)] > last for stated time
to go the limit1927
1904 Montgomery (Alabama) Weekly Advertiser 26 Aug. 4 We can always depend on Kansas to go the limit in the freak line.
1925 L. J. Smits Spring Flight viii. 89 I'd marry a girl who had gone the limit just as willingly as I would a strict one, perhaps a little sooner.
1927 Amer. Speech 3 29 The boxer ‘goes the limit’ if he succeeds in lasting the specified number of rounds.
1985 M. Baker Cops (1986) ii. 69 He was an angry fucking man who wasn't too bright and just went the limit, man. Went the limit.
2012 Wisconsin State Jrnl. (Nexis) 24 Feb. b2 Josh Wipperfurth was prepared to go the limit during the opening round of the WIAA individual state wrestling tournament.
Compounds
limit bag n. Angling, Hunting, and Shooting (originally U.S.) = bag limit n. at bag n. Additions; (also) a catch or take equal to this limit.
ΚΠ
1899 Recreation Feb. 118/2 When he [sc. the market hunter] is out of business we can regulate the sportsman hunter with a limit bag.
1941 Utah: Guide to State (Federal Writers' Project) i. 145 The public shooting grounds adjacent to the refuge yield limit bags.
2002 J. Bailey Where to Fly Fish in Brit. & Ireland 35 A basic day ticket that gives an eight-fish limit bag costs between £14 and £15.
limit bid n. Bridge a bid which shows that the strength of the caller's hand does not exceed a certain value, and often that he or she does not expect to make the contract named.
ΘΚΠ
society > leisure > entertainment > pastimes > game > card game > [noun] > actions or tactics > calls or signals
Blue Peter1856
trump signal1901
limit bid1929
1929 Salt Lake Tribune 3 June 3/2 Judge Clinton H. Hartson of district court.., won the game, but only after being forced to the limit bid, for each of the other players had twelve-card suits.
1959 T. Reese & A. Dormer Bridge Player's Dict. 138 A limit-bid is one that describes the strength of a player's hand within fairly narrow limits.
2002 M. Miles Inferences at Bridge 31 When your right hand opponent has made a limit bid of some sort it is dangerous and often futile to preempt with a broken suit.
limit case n. an extreme or marginal instance of a phenomenon, in which the key variable quality or value is at the minimum or maximum extent of its possible variation.Frequently in mathematical and related contexts; cf. limiting case in quots. 1914, 1989 at limiting adj. 3.
ΚΠ
1892 C. Barus Compressibility of Liquids 15 In the second [section] I describe the volume lag (hysteresis), identify it as a limit case of the phenomenon of viscosity, and discuss its fundamental bearing on the molecular structure of matter.
1939 Jrnl. Unified Sci. 8 131 The work of art is conceived as a sign which is, in all but the simplest limit case, itself a structure of signs.
2012 A. W. Moore Evol. of Mod. Metaphysics iii. 561 The point could have that degree of heat while heating up, or while cooling down, or while enjoying a period of uniform heat—which for current purposes we may as well regard as a limit case of its cooling down.
limit cycle n. [after French cycle limite (H. Poincaré 1880, in Comptes rendus hebdomadaires de l'Académie des Sciences 90 674)] Mathematics a closed path in phase space representing a limit; esp. one that is an attractor.
ΘΚΠ
the world > relative properties > number > geometry > point > [noun] > sets or groups of points
umbilic point1586
involution1847
triad1850
range1859
point group1887
tetrad1889
tristigm1889
neighbourhood1891
trinode1891
trigraphy1895
Cantor set1902
web1909
limit cycle1918
Leech lattice1968
the world > relative properties > number > geometry > point > [adjective] > groups of
limit cycle1918
1918 J. B. Shaw Lect. Philos. Math. xv. 176 In general the integral curves wind around a limit cycle asymptotically.
1955 Amer. Math. Monthly 62 131 A discussion of a limit cycle of a nonlinear equation of the van der Pol type.
1986 Sci. Amer. (U.K. ed.) Dec. 42/1 Another familiar system with a limit-cycle attractor is the heart.
2011 R. Kautz Chaos xi. 264 In this case, the pendulum settles into exactly periodic motion called a limit cycle, which gives us a new kind of attractor and a different topology for the flow in state space.
limit dog n. now rare a competition dog shown in a class limited to dogs possessing certain required qualifications, such as weight, size, etc.
ΚΠ
1894 Horse & Hound 2 June 337/2 In the class of open bitches under 35lb, Mr. Farman was first with Cigarette, and Depôt took the first prize for limit dogs, 55lb and over.
1909 Daily Chron. 11 Feb. 5/6 The first prize for limit dogs over 45 lb.
1920 Dogdom May 156/2 Mrs. Kennedy's Nanking Wen-tu was first in limit dogs, followed by Chu-Weh tu of Alderbourne.
1987 Pure-bred Dogs Apr. 155/1 Limit Dog, Pat Curties' Lee's Cockade, ‘a smart tri with the most beautiful head’.
limit game n. Poker a game in which there is a limit to the amount that may be bet.
ΚΠ
1876 Boston Daily Advertiser 23 June 1/ A man puts down a certain sum of money on the corner of the ace, to take the tray in a $25-limit game.]
1963 Esquire's Bk. Gambling ii. iv. 109 It is virtually impossible to bluff in a limit game. With a limit, poker is more like Screeno... Big Poker..as any unlimited-stakes player will be happy to tell you..requires the most brutality.
2012 Z. Elwood Reading Poker Tells (rev. ed.) 43 Tells in a limit game will mostly come from lazy players who give away their honest intentions.
limit gauge n. Engineering a gauge for determining whether a dimension of a manufactured item falls within the required tolerance.
ΘΚΠ
the world > relative properties > measurement > measuring instrument > [noun] > for determining or verifying dimensions > specific
size1763
limit gauge1841
plug gauge1850
scantle1850
string-gauge1876
snap gauge1918
burr-gauge-
1841 Ordnance Man. for Use of Officers (U.S. Army Ordnance Dept.) vi. 108 The diameter of the bore must be verified with the standard and limit gauges.
1930 Pop. Sci. Dec. 106/3 A complete range of limit gages that are just the thing for moderately small runs of parts.
2008 R. Staley Einstein's Generation iii. 75 High-precision limit gauges—‘go’ and ‘no-go’ gauges that embodied the limits of tolerances accepted.
limit gauging n. Engineering the use of limit gauges in determining a dimension of a manufactured item, typically to ensure the interchangeability of parts.
ΘΚΠ
the world > relative properties > measurement > measuring instrument > [noun] > for determining or verifying dimensions > specific > use of limit-gauge
limit gauging1906
1906 Electr. Engineer 23 Nov. 727/1 It was necessary to collect additional information regarding the limit gauging of cylindrical surfaces.
1964 S. Crawford Basic Engin. Processes xiv. 296 Limit-gauging systems have played an essential part in the development of the technique of quantity production.
2002 D. Newton in M. Seaver Handbk. Quality Managem. (ed. 3) xviii. 279 Limit gauging is usually quicker and cheaper than measurement.
limit line n. a line constituting a limit or point of furthest (permitted) extent; a cordon; a boundary; spec. a solid white line across a road indicating the point where traffic should stop (before a pedestrian crossing, etc.).
ΚΠ
1824 Illinois Gaz. 25 Sept. 4/1 From the burnish'd skies, To the limit-line of ocean.
1912 H. C. Candee Tapestry Bk. iv. 39 A sketchy sort of brick-work that appears whenever a limit-line is needed.
1977 New Scientist 24 Nov. 514/1 Would he consider declaring a 200-mile limit line from Ascension?
1999 Orange County (Calif.) Reg. (Nexis) 9 Dec. (Community section) 3 Lane drifting, stopping short or long of the limit line..are all symptoms people exude when their blood alcohol level is too high.
2002 N.Y. Times (National ed.) 9 May a12/5 Stringing barbed wire and police tape reading ‘limit line’ around all embassy compounds.
limit load n. Aeronautics and Engineering the maximum load that a structure can carry under particular conditions without suffering damage; spec. that of an aircraft.
ΘΚΠ
society > travel > air or space travel > a means of conveyance through the air > aeroplane > qualities and parameters of aircraft > [noun] > ratio of weight to maximum supportable
load factor1891
limit load1918
1918 Aviation & Aeronaut. Engin. 1 Oct. 292/2 Question of the limit speed of the airplane, of the limit load it may carry.
1921 Proc. 31st Ann. Conf. Amer. Railway Bridge & Building Assoc. 136 The limit loads on the columns and girders were considered as existing at the time the arch was completed.
1977 J. M. Barson Flaw Growth & Fracture 20 Limit loads and their changes with crack size are relatively easy to compute.
2001 Flying May 66/3 The positive limit load for a normal category airplane, for example, is 3.8G, which the airplane must withstand at its maximum takeoff weight.
limit load factor n. Aeronautics the load factor corresponding to the limit load of an aircraft.
ΚΠ
1937 Federal Reg. (U.S.) 24 Sept. 1908/1 The volume of the prismoidal loading curve so obtained, from which the intensities may be computed, shall equal the gross weight of the airplane times a limit load factor of 5.33.
1981 Aviation Week & Space Technol. (Nexis) 2 Mar. 65 A maneuvering load was applied which could have exceeded the aircraft's limit load factors.
1998 SIAM Rev. 40 957 A minimum radius turn technique involving a steep turn at Vα at the limit load factor.
limit order n. Finance a direction given to a broker or dealer to buy or sell a security, commodity, etc., at a specified price (or better); cf. market order n. at market n. Compounds 2.A buy limit order can only be executed at the specified price or lower; a sell limit order can only be executed at the specified price or higher.
ΚΠ
1883 Galveston (Texas) Daily News 7 Dec. After the 60c limit orders were provided for, May sold at 601/ 8c.
1965 W. J. Baumol Stock Market & Econ. Efficiency ii. 20 There are other profit and price setting opportunities which the limit order makes available to the specialist.
2012 B. Scott-Quinn Commerc. & Investm. Banking xii. 197 To trade, all he has to do is to move his price to match that on the other side, i.e. to change from a limit order to a market order.
limit point n. Mathematics a point forming a limit to a sequence, function, etc.; spec. a point of a set every neighbourhood of which contains at least one point (other than the limit point) belonging to the set.
ΚΠ
1850 G. Salmon Treat. Conic Sections (ed. 2) Index 331/1 Angle... Subtended at limit points of system of circles.
1905 Trans. Amer. Math. Soc. 6 90 A geometrically closed set of points is a set that includes all its geometrical limit points.
1959 E. M. Patterson Topol. (ed. 2) ii. 29 The points x = 0 and x = 1 are limit points of the set 0 < x < 1 on the Euclidean line; and in this case every point of X itself is also a limit point.
2004 M. Potter Set Theory & its Philos. vii. 117 It is a closed set in which every point is a limit point.
limit raise n. Cards (a) (Poker) a raise whose amount is limited; (b) (Bridge) a raise of one's partner's opening bid with defined limits of strength.
ΚΠ
1893 Wade's Fibre & Fabric 26 Aug. 336/1 The players were mostly old gentlemen, who opened a jack pot on a pair of jacks and stood a limit raise with all the reckless abandon of young bloods with millions.
1959 T. Reese & A. Dormer Bridge Player's Dict. 138 A raise of partner's suit is generally a limit-raise, expressing the full value of the hand.
2005 Asian Age 28 Sept. 16/5 North's two-no-trump response over the takeout double shows a limit raise in spades with at least four trumps.
limit switch n. Engineering a switch that prevents the travel of an object beyond a predetermined point and which is automatically operated by the motion or presence of the object.
ΘΚΠ
society > occupation and work > equipment > machine > parts of machines > control(s) > [noun] > switch > types of
pin switch1865
limit switch1886
press-key1896
rocker switch1898
pressel switch1916
snap switch1926
toggle switch1938
microswitch1941
1886 Industries 23 July 78/1 To meet this difficulty, Mr. Daft has designed an apparatus which he terms a ‘limit’ switch.
1930 Engineering 9 May 595/2 Automatic control at the end of travel is provided by geared limit switches.
2003 M. E. Brumbach & J. A. Clade Industr. Maintenance xx. 412/1 The presence of the door depresses the lever on the limit switch.
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, March 2014; most recently modified version published online March 2022).
limitv.
/ˈlɪmɪt/, U.S. /ˈlɪmᵻt/ 1.
a. transitive. To confine within limits, to set bounds to (rarely in concrete sense); to bound, restrict. Const. to. †Also: to prohibit (a person) from (something).
ΘΚΠ
the world > relative properties > quantity > decrease or reduction in quantity, amount, or degree > reduce in quantity, amount, or degree [verb (transitive)] > curtail
wanea889
dockc1380
bridgec1384
abridgea1393
limita1398
syncopec1412
defalk1475
shortena1535
to cut short?1542
royn1573
retrench1587
curtail1589
retranch1589
lop1594
scantle1596
scant1599
scantelize1611
curtalize1622
defalce1651
detrench1655
barb1657
defalcatea1690
razee1815
detruncate1846
to cut down1857
shave1898
society > authority > subjection > restraint or restraining > restriction or limitation > restrict or limit [verb (transitive)]
thringc1250
restrain1384
bound1393
abounda1398
limita1398
pincha1450
pin?a1475
prescribec1485
define1513
coarcta1529
circumscribe1529
restrict1535
conclude1548
limitate1563
stint1567
chamber1568
contract1570
crampern1577
contain1578
finish1587
pound1589
confine1597
terminate1602
noosec1604
border1608
constrain1614
coarctate1624
butta1631
to fasten down1694
crimp1747
bourn1807
to box in1845
the world > relative properties > kind or sort > individual character or quality > quality of being special or restricted in application > quality of being restricted or limited > restrict or limit [verb (transitive)]
thringc1250
circumscrivec1374
arta1382
bound1393
limita1398
restrainc1405
pincha1450
restringe1525
coarcta1529
circumscribe1529
restrict1535
conclude1548
narrow?1548
limitate1563
stint1567
chamber1568
contract1570
crampern1577
contain1578
finish1587
conscribe1588
pound1589
confine1597
border1608
circumcise1613
constrain1614
coarctate1624
butta1631
prescribe1688
pin1738
the world > space > relative position > condition of being external > edge, border, or margin > boundary > bound or form boundary of [verb (transitive)] > fix boundary of
meteeOE
markeOE
mereOE
bound1393
determinea1398
terminea1398
rede1415
measurea1513
butt1523
space1548
limit1555
determinate1563
to mark out1611
contermine1624
to run out1671
verge1759
demarcate1816
outline1817
define1843
rope1862
delimit1879
delimitate1879
the mind > possession > supply > provide or supply (something) [verb (transitive)] > keep ill-supplied
to hold or keep (a person) shortc1425
strait1513
scant1565
starve1570
scantle1581
shorten1599
scant1600
scant1607
short1620
straiten1627
famish1667
limit1670
scrimp1691
under-furnish1694
stint1722
society > authority > subjection > prohibition > prohibit [verb (transitive)] > debar (a person)
forbarc1330
shutc1400
debarc1430
repel1480
abara1504
abridge1523
seclude?1531
bar1551
fence1589
bebar1650
limit1722
to shut out1819
stop-list1949
a1398 J. Trevisa tr. Bartholomaeus Anglicus De Proprietatibus Rerum (BL Add. 27944) (1975) I. x. i. 553 His [sc. matter's] appetites beþ nouȝt restreyned neiþir ilymytid in certeyne..he is iclepid endeles, and nauȝt þat his vertue is endeles and nat lymytid [L. limitata] in certeyn noþer constreyned, as þe vertue of God.
c1440 (?a1400) Morte Arthure l. 457 (MED) Thy lycence es lemete in presence of lordys.
1508 J. Fisher Treat. Penyt. Psalmes sig. xx.iii The mercy of god..can neuer be lymyt to ony creature.
c1530 T. More Let. Impugnynge J. Fryth in Wks. 841/1 Than must he limitte Gods power howe farre he will geue God leaue to stretche it.
1555 R. Eden tr. Peter Martyr of Angleria Decades of Newe Worlde i. iii. f. 11 They haue lymyted and enclosed certeyne grounde to make gardeynes and orchiardes.
1597 R. Hooker Of Lawes Eccl. Politie v. lxix. 190 If in continuance also limitted, they all haue..their set..termes.
1631 in S. R. Gardiner Rep. Cases Star Chamber & High Comm. (1886) 80 Sr Francis Leake..made a deed limitting the use to my Lady Leake.
1670 G. Havers tr. G. Leti Il Cardinalismo di Santa Chiesa ii. iii. 186 He was limited in his Victuals, and ty'd up to a certain allowance every day.
1722 D. Defoe Moll Flanders 72 I had a Husband, and no Husband..: Thus I say, I was limitted from Marriage, what Offer soever might be made me.
1732 T. Lediard tr. J. Terrasson Life Sethos II. x. 362 He limited his number of cavalry to six thousand men.
1786 E. Burke Articles of Charge against W. Hastings vii. 176 The Act of Parliament..did expressly limit the duration of their office to the term of five years.
1828 I. D'Israeli Comm. Life Charles I I. vii. 216 The philosophical inquirer will not limit his researches by simple dates.
1874 J. R. Green Short Hist. Eng. People v. §1. 218 The commerce..was still mainly limited to the exportation of wool to Flanders.
1900 ‘F. Anstey’ Brass Bottle iii. 35 If you remember, sir, you strictly limited me to the sums you marked.
1935 Pop. Mech. Sept. 454/1 A steel pin in the rod strikes the edges of the slot and limits the movement of the flukes.
1975 Amer. Speech 1972 47 143 Although polio cruelly limited her for many years to the use of one arm, Betty Adler was never sidelined.
2001 S. C. Florman Aftermath: Novel of Survival v. 112 The subcommittee, for the sake of efficiency, was limited to thirty members.
b. transitive. To serve as a limit or boundary to; to bound; to mark off from. Also to limit in.
ΘΚΠ
the world > space > relative position > condition of being external > edge, border, or margin > boundary > bound or form boundary of [verb (transitive)]
terminate?a1425
border1570
limit1578
frontier1599
lista1600
bound1601
confine1601
bounder1636
verge1817
delimit1879
1578 J. Banister Hist. Man i. f. 3 When Extension is made neither can any of the Processes passe further in their Celles, then the vtmost seat, to them by nature limited.
1582 R. Stanyhurst tr. Virgil First Foure Bookes Æneis i. 8 This rule thus fixed no tyme shal limit, or hazard [L. his ego nec metas rerum nec tempora pono].
1594 T. Blundeville Exercises v. f. 263v The prouinces that..are limitted with the prouinces of China.
1601 J. Weever Mirror of Martyrs sig. Ev Limits there be for euery thing beside, No banks can limit in the sea of pride.
1601 P. Holland tr. Pliny Hist. World I. 122 The kingdome of the Parthians..is limited and separat by these mountaines and streights.
1625 K. Long tr. J. Barclay Argenis i. xx. 60 The souldiers reached to the doore of the Temple in two rankes, limiting the way to them that came to the Princesse.
1635 Earl of Manchester Al Mondo: Contemplatio Mortis (rev. ed.) 185 God cannot bee God, if Nature limit him.
1789 P. Smyth tr. H. Aldrich Archit. (1818) 121 The apertures are limited by two jambs, and the mantle-tree.
1889 P. Geddes & J. A. Thomson Evol. Sex xi. 146 Round the chromatin rods vacuoles are formed, limiting them from the surrounding protoplasm.
1908 F. S. Watson & J. H. Cunningham Dis. & Surg. of Genito-urinary Syst. II. iii. xxvi. 289 The growth is composed of nodules of different size, each surrounded by a capsule which limits it from the surrounding adrenal tissue.
1909 H. Woods Palæontol. Invertebr. (ed. 4) 251 Ears indistinctly limited from the rest of the shell, the anterior very short, the posterior long.
1999 Code of Federal Regulations: 9: Animals (Office of Federal Register, U.S.) i. 188/2 This space shall be limited on each side by the 6-foot fence.
2. † a. transitive. To appoint (a person) to an office; to prescribe (a penalty) upon or for someone; to appoint, direct (a person to do something). Obsolete.† c. transitive. To portion or plot out; to allot, apportion. Obsolete.† d. transitive. Mathematics. To specify or define (an angle, line, etc.) in the presentation of a proposition or problem; to constrain by such a definition. Obsolete.† e. transitive. In passive. Of proportions or contour: to be outlined or drawn (in a specified manner). Obsolete.
ΘΚΠ
society > authority > office > appointment to office > appoint a person to an office [verb (transitive)]
setc1000
stevenOE
assign1297
inseta1300
stable1300
ordaina1325
instituec1384
to put ina1387
limitc1405
point?1405
stablish1439
institutec1475
invest1489
assumec1503
to fill the hands of1535
establish1548
settle1548
appoint1557
place1563
assumptc1571
dispose1578
seat1595
state1604
instate1613
to bring ina1616
officea1616
constitute1616
impose1617
ascribe1624
install1647
to set up1685
prick1788
society > authority > delegated authority > investing with delegated authority > vest authority in a person [verb (transitive)] > commission to do something
assign1297
chargec1300
ordainc1330
commita1402
limitc1405
commisea1470
task1530
taska1592
consign1705
detail1837
betask1857
society > authority > delegated authority > investing with delegated authority > vest authority in a person [verb (transitive)] > commission to do something > commit to a person to do
limitc1405
hight1596
encommend1598
c1405 (c1390) G. Chaucer Melibeus (Hengwrt) (2003) §796 We..been redy to come what day þt it like vn to youre noblesse to lymyte vs or assigne vs for to maken oure obligacion.
1420 in J. Raine Vol. Eng. Misc. N. Counties Eng. (1890) 16 Sercheours..assigned and lymyt by Thomas of Gare.
1445–6 Petition in Rotuli Parl. (1767–77) V. 125/1 Thoo peynes that ben specialli lymyted upon the seid Baillifs.
?1484 Will of Margaret Paston in Paston Lett. & Papers (2004) I. 387 After the stipend of the preste lymyted to singe for me be yerly levied.
a1500 (a1460) Towneley Plays (1994) I. xix. 218 (MED) Apon the erth he send lightnes, Both son and moyne lymett thertyll.
?1520 A. Barclay tr. Sallust Cron. Warre agaynst Iugurth xxvi. f. 35 He had lymited hym in Numidy in his stede to be captayn of the army.
c1600 Wriothesley's Chron. Eng. (1875) I. 55 Under a certaine paine lymitted for the same for the said cleargie.
c1613 (?1504) in T. Stapleton Plumpton Corr. (1839) 189 I had the keyes levered me..and had a fellow lemett to keepe the said schawnter with me, and he faylled me in my most neede.
1638 T. Heywood Wise Woman iv. i, in Wks. (1874) V. 319 I limit you to be a welcome guest unto my Table.
1731 N. Lyde Narr. Life R. Lyde of Hereford 33 Mr. Harper,..by a former Agreement was only to go as an Assistant for Accounts; yet after some time, he limited him to be my Partner.
b. To assign within limits; to appoint, fix definitely. Now only in legal contexts.
(a) transitive. With simple object, double object, or object and to. Also: to make over (also with away). In early use also frequently conjoined with assign.
ΘΚΠ
the world > relative properties > kind or sort > individual character or quality > the quality of being specific > make specific [verb (transitive)] > specify or state precisely > as something desired or decided upon
limita1425
nominate1564
name1597
state1658
fix1660
a1425 J. Wyclif Sel. Eng. Wks. (1869) I. 141 Crist haþ lymytid tyme þat he shuld come to his Fadir..For boþe Cristis liynge in þe sepulcre and his dwellinge here in erþe was litil tyme as God limitide.
?a1425 (a1415) Lanterne of Liȝt (Harl.) (1917) 38 (MED) Peple schulde drawe to parische chirchis & here her seruice þere as Goddis lawe haþ lymytid.
c1443 R. Pecock Reule of Crysten Religioun (1927) 263 As þe offerer lymytiþ and assigneþ whanne lawe is not þerupon maad.
c1450 (?a1400) Wars Alexander (Ashm.) l. 4283 (MED) Oure lord has lemett vs elike þe lenthe of oure days.
1474–5 Rolls of Parl.: Edward IV (Electronic ed.) Parl. Oct. 1472 3rd Roll §7. m. 31 Yevyng the same commyssioners auctorite and power, to assesse, lymyte and appoynte a somme certeyne uppon every cite.
1483 ( tr. G. Deguileville Pilgrimage of Soul (Caxton) (1859) v. i. 72 Of endeles thynge maye no proporcion be lymyted, ne accounted.
a1513 R. Fabyan New Cronycles Eng. & Fraunce (1516) I. clxxxv. f. cviii At the daye before lymytted and assygned.
1525 Ld. Berners tr. J. Froissart Cronycles II. xliv. 143 The Lady Elyanoure had it lymytted to her for her dowry.
a1593 C. Marlowe Tragicall Hist. Faustus (1604) sig. F2v O no end is limited to damned soules.
1603 J. Florio tr. M. de Montaigne Ess. iii. xi. 612 Astrologie could not yet limmite the motion of the Moone.
1612 M. Drayton Poly-olbion viii. 384 Myself, and my dear brother Dee, by nature were the bounds first limited to thee.
1668 A. Marvell Let. 18 Apr. in Poems & Lett. (1971) II. 73 Neither do I belieue we can finish it and the rest within the time limited us by his Majesty.
1750 W. Beawes Lex Mercatoria (1752) 266 The time limitted in the bottomry bond.
1767 W. Blackstone Comm. Laws Eng. (new ed.) II. 155 If..the estate be limited over to a third person.
1795 J. Bentham Supply without Burthen 32 When an estate in England has been limited away from a man altogether, he never looks at it.
1804 W. Cruise Digest Laws Eng. Real Prop. IV. 233 In the release, there was a power..to revoke the uses contained therein, and to limit other uses.
1818 W. Cruise Digest Laws Eng. Real Prop. (ed. 2) I. 418 A man cannot by any conveyance at common law limit an estate to his wife.
1897 Atlantic Rep. 36 275/1 A takes a vested fee which becomes divested at his death, and vests in those to whom the estate is limited over.
1906 R. F. Norton et al. Treat. on Deeds 375 It was held that there was no resulting use to him, notwithstanding that the use was not limited away from him during all his life.
1955 North Eastern Rep. 2nd Ser. 123 209/1 The rule has particular applicability..where estates are limited over to persons not in being, and who therefore could not be made actual parties.
1997 West's Southern Rep. 2nd Ser. 694 30/2 In the same gift or conveyance the estate was limited to his or her heirs in fee or in tail.
(b) transitive. With infinitive. Usually in passive.
ΚΠ
c1450 (c1425) Brut (Cambr. Kk.1.12) 368 Þey were ioyned to fiȝt vnto þe deth, within þe listeȝ, & þe day, tyme and place assigned and lymytid to be do and ende, yn Smythfelde.
1562 in D. Pickering Statutes at Large (1763) VI. 182 One rood or fourth part of an acre is limited to be sown with linseed otherwise flaxseed or hempseed.
1564 Act 5 Eliz. c. 5 It shall not be lawfull..to eate any flesh vpon..any Wednesday now newly limited to be obserued as fish day.
1581 Compendious Exam. Certayne Ordinary Complaints iii. f. 50 Euery Artificer dwelling out of al townes..should bee limitted to bee vnder the correction of one good Towne or other.
1603 G. Owen Descr. Penbrokshire (1891) i. 1 The Center or middle of the same Shere which I limytt to be aboute Heythoch moore.
a1641 T. Mun England's Treasure (1664) iii. 9 In many places the exportation of victuals and munition are either prohibited, or at least limited to be done onely by the people and Shipping of those places where they abound.
1641 M. Wren in C. Wren & S. Wren Parentalia (1750) 111 One of the Commissioners did in open Court examine the said Cullyer about it, and particularly minded him, which Fee this Defendant had limited to be taken in that Case.
1748 J. Bate Def. Mr Hutchinson's Plan 25 The Soul is limited to receive its Information through the Organs of the Body.
1847 Pennsylvania State Rep. 4 185 The agency was limited to receive applications and notes.
1890 D. Nasmith Outl. Rom. Hist. from Romulus to Justinian 279 Inasmuch as a trust may be limited to take effect after the death of the trustee, the same end may be attained by the use of these words.
1942 New Mexico Statutes 1941 Annotated II. 740 None of the provisions of this chapter shall apply to any action or suit which by any particular statute of this state is limited to be commenced within a different time.
2011 Z. D. Tarman in M. D. Güner-Özbek U.N. Convent. on Contracts for Int. Carriage of Goods by Sea. xi. 277 Article 67 paragraph 1 (b) repeats that the designated court is limited to be in a contracting state of the Rotterdam Rules.
ΘΚΠ
the mind > possession > giving > distributing or dealing out > distribute or deal out [verb (transitive)] > assign or allot > in due proportion
proportiona1475
rate1491
apportionate1523
apportion1528
limit1530
discribe1531
applot1633
proportionate1637
admeasure1641
prorate1858
1530 J. Palsgrave Lesclarcissement 612/1 Our grounds were lymyted afore our fathers dayes.
1559 W. Cuningham Cosmogr. Glasse Pref. sig. Avi & by..th'equinoctiall, polary circles, and altitude of the pole, to limite out the Zones, Climates, & Paralleles.
1579 L. Tomson tr. J. Calvin Serm. Epist. S. Paule to Timothie & Titus 765/2 God..hath limited out all our life.
1605 R. Verstegan Restit. Decayed Intelligence vi. 157 Mearkenryc, that is, the countrey or kingdome marked or limited out.
a1620 M. Fotherby Atheomastix (1622) ii. i. §8. 190 He had all his learning and knowledge limited out vnto him: yea, and that by a scant scantling.
1686 R. Blome Gentlemans Recreation ii. vi. 219 Not that I intend to limit out the exact quantity of Colours to be mixed, being but to shew that Colours serve for the true expressing of all Natural things.
1772 J. Spencer Hermas 224 Some luminary fix'd, some destin'd goal, To laws of action, some magnetic pole; Centre of systems, gravitation's base, That guides their circuits, limits out their space?
ΚΠ
1551 R. Record Pathway to Knowl. i. xv The likeiamme..hath one angle..like to D. the angle that was limitted.
1616 A. Rathborne Surveyor 59 Probleme VIII. Vpon a right line giuen, on a point therein limited, to make an angle equall to an angle giuen.
1682 A. Martindale Countrey-surv.-bk. 12 If the Angles be not limitted draw any oblique Angle at pleasure, either Acute or Obtuse.
?1747 J. Dougharty Math. Digests 23 Take B in your Compasses, and (if you are not limited by a given Angle) set that from C to any Point as E, and draw CE.
ΘΚΠ
the world > space > shape > shape or give shape to [verb (transitive)] > give outline to > definite
limit1608
define1815
1608 W. Bettie Hist. Titana & Theseus sig. B2 Seeing his face so perfectly featurde, and viewing each lim, the portrature of his body so well limitted.
ΘΚΠ
the mind > possession > poverty > mendicancy > beg or be beggar [verb (intransitive)] > within specified limits
limit?1577
?1577 J. Northbrooke Spiritus est Vicarius Christi: Treat. Dicing 35 They [sc. Popishe friers] go ydelly a limiting abrode.
ΘΚΠ
the world > space > distance > nearness > be near [verb (intransitive)] > be adjacent
joinc1325
adjoin1425
marge1494
limit1613
sidea1647
verge1789
abut1826
1613 A. Sherley Relation Trav. Persia 4 Those countries limitting upon the King of Spaines vniall partes.
5. intransitive. U.S. Angling, Hunting, and Shooting. With out. To reach one's maximum permitted catch or take. Cf. limit bag n. at limit n. Compounds.
ΚΠ
1946 Oakland (Calif.) Tribune 8 Nov. 27/2 This sportsman along with ‘Red’ Carlson limited out with beautiful mallards.
1950 Evening Independent (Massillon, Ohio) 14 Dec. 21/1 Paul limited out on rabbits and Dale and Frank got one each.
1971 Field & Stream Mar. 218/1 If that flash flood hadn't come along just then, I feel sure I'd have limited out in short order.
2002 M. Geyer in S. M. Miller Duck Hunting on Fox i. 6/1 My best hunts? A couple times I limited out at 25 ducks.
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, March 2014; most recently modified version published online June 2022).
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n.a1425v.a1398