gimp1
/ɡɪmp
/(also guimp or gymp)
noun
1 [mass noun] Twisted silk, worsted, or cotton with cord or wire running through it, used chiefly as upholstery trimming.To stabilize a buttonhole, cord it with buttonhole twist, gimp or elastic thread....
- They reproduced on a handloom the intricate silk gimps, braids, and tassels needed for the Swan suite.
1.1(In lacemaking) coarser thread which forms the outline of the design in some techniques.Use gimp - zigzag stitched in place - to frame it.
2Fishing line made of silk bound with wire.
Origin
Mid 17th century: from Dutch, of unknown ultimate origin.
Rhymes
gimp2
/ɡɪmp/North American informal, derogatory
noun
1A physically disabled or lame person.He just found the smallest skateboard he could and stuck it down the back of his right pant leg and proceeded to hobble out of the store as if he were a child gimp....
- I was having twinges of it before, but yesterday during my overnight shift it was a lot worse - I was hobbling around like a gimp for most of the night.
- The bill isn't about avoiding obviously and egregiously offensive terminology like gimp and crip.
1.1A limp.He walked with a strange gimp and carried a cane with him for stability....
- I was with the army a few years back, but had to leave due to a gimp in my leg.
- Well, Kelly the Pooch was back on all fours despite a gimp in one of his hind legs.
2A feeble or contemptible person.‘You need to be firmer with them,’ she said, ‘you silly spineless gimp.’...
- I just don't know who to feel sorrier for - the author, or the poor gimps who think it's worth responding to.
- I hate that smirking, gormless gimp and his inane, clueless questioning.
verb [no object, with adverbial of direction]
Limp; hobble: I gimped over to the door...
- I had suffered a high ankle sprain near the end of the regular season, and I was really gimping around in the championship game.
- I frowned as he gimped onto the bus; that leg was a mystery.
- Sam gimped over to the table, shutting the top of his monitor with a click before picking it back up and hobbling back to settle next to Jackson.
Derivatives
gimpy
- Indeed, one character disintegrates so precipitously that what began as a ambling character sketch ends as a farce with a gimpy leg.
- He is struggling with a gimpy knee that probably will need offseason surgery, and he has almost as many drops as catches.
- He's all tall and gimpy and has a fast-receding hairline.
Origin
1920s: of unknown origin.