Crossword clues for limber
limber
Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English
The Collaborative International Dictionary
Limber \Lim"ber\ (l[i^]m"b[~e]r), n. [For limmer, Icel. limar branches, boughs, pl. of lim; akin to E. limb. See Limb a branch.]
pl. The shafts or thills of a wagon or carriage. [Prov. Eng.]
(Mil.) The detachable fore part of a gun carriage, consisting of two wheels, an axle, and a shaft to which the horses are attached. On top is an ammunition box upon which the cannoneers sit.
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pl. (Naut.) Gutters or conduits on each side of the keelson to afford a passage for water to the pump well.
Limber boards (Naut.), short pieces of plank forming part of the lining of a ship's floor immediately above the timbers, so as to prevent the limbers from becoming clogged.
Limber box or Limber chest (Mil.), a box on the limber for carrying ammunition.
Limber rope, Limber chain or Limber clearer (Naut.), a rope or chain passing through the limbers of a ship, by which they may be cleared of dirt that chokes them.
--Totten.Limber strake (Shipbuilding), the first course of inside planking next the keelson.
Limber \Lim"ber\ v. t. [imp. & p. p. Limbered (l[i^]m"b[~e]rd); p. pr. & vb. n. Limbering.] (Mil.) To attach to the limber; as, to limber a gun.
To limber up, to change a gun carriage into a four-wheeled vehicle by attaching the limber.
Limber \Lim"ber\, a. [Akin to limp, a. [root]125. See Limp,
a.]
Easily bent; flexible; pliant; yielding.
--Milton.
The bargeman that doth row with long and limber oar.
--Turbervile.
Limber \Lim"ber\, v. t.
To cause to become limber; to make flexible or pliant.
--Richardson.
Douglas Harper's Etymology Dictionary
"pliant, flexible," 1560s, of uncertain origin, possibly from limb (n.1) on notion of supple boughs of a tree [Barnhart], or from limp "flaccid" [Skeat], or somehow from Middle English lymer "shaft of a cart" (see limber (n.)), but the late appearance of the -b- in that word argues against it. Related: Limberness. Dryden used limber-ham (see ham (n.1) in the "joint" sense) as a name for a character "perswaded by what is last said to him, and changing next word."
"detachable forepart of a gun carriage," 1620s, from Middle English lymer (early 15c.), earlier lymon (c.1400), probably from Old French limon "shaft," a word perhaps of Celtic origin, or possibly from Germanic and related to limb (n.1). Hence, limber (v.) "to attach a limber to a gun" (1783). Compare related Spanish limon "shaft," leman "helmsman."
1748, from limber (adj.). Related: Limbered; limbering.
Wiktionary
Etymology 1
flexible, pliant, bendable. v
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To cause to become limber; to make flexible or pliant. Etymology 2
n. 1 (context obsolete English) A two-wheeled, horse-drawn vehicle used to pull an artillery piece into battle. 2 (context in the plural English) The shafts or thills of a wagon or carriage. 3 (context military English) The detachable fore part of a gun carriage, consisting of two wheels, an axle, and a shaft to which the horses are attached. On top is an ammunition box upon which the cannoneers sit. 4 (context nautical in the plural English) Gutters or conduits on each side of the keelson to allow water to pass to the pump well. vb. (context obsolete English) To prepare an artillery piece for transportation (i.e., to attach it to its limber.)
WordNet
v. attach the limber; "limber a cannon" [syn: limber up]
cause to become limber; "The violist limbered her wrists before the concert"
Wikipedia
Limber may refer to:
- Limber, a song off the album Aneurythm by the American hard rock band Living Syndication.
- Limber, a Puerto Rican frozen ice pop made in different flavors, supposedly named after aviator Charles Lindbergh.
- Limber in limbers and caissons, a cart used for supporting an artillery piece in transit
- Limber Pine, a species of pine tree found in the Western United States and Canada
- Limber Perez, a Honduran football player
- Limber Trail, a trail at Shenandoah National Park
Usage examples of "limber".
A shell splinter whipped into the broken limber, which carried a stenciled legend announcing that the vehicle belonged to the 4th U.
The gun itself recoiled with the force of a runaway locomotive, jarring backward a full ten paces to mangle the legs of the two leading horses of the limber team.
At the far bank the road reared steeply up from the water, but not so steeply that a horse team could not have pulled a heavy gun and limber out of the river.
Another limber of ammunition exploded, punching red fire across the wounded camp.
A dead horse lay nearby, just one horse, and there was no limber, but only wooden chests of ammunition, and Starbuck remembered Swynyard telling him about the mountain howitzers of the old U.
It was an hour before dawn that the guns started, and the riflemen followed close behind the last limber, so that the first light of day fell upon the black sinuous line winding down between the hills.
Half of them were within rifle range, and the limber horses were the centre of a hot fire, as they were destined to be at a shorter range and with more disastrous effect at the Tugela.
In the meanwhile the attention of Generals Buller and Clery had been called to the desperate position of the guns, and they had made their way to that further nullah in the rear where the remaining limber horses and drivers were.
The last battery, the 78th, remained to receive the concentrated fire of the Boer guns, and was so enveloped in the dust of the exploding shells that spectators could only see a gun here or a limber there.
Gallant attempts were made by volunteers from the Gordons--Captain Younger and other brave men throwing away their lives in the vain effort to reach and to limber up the guns.
Five drivers tried to bring up a limber and remove the gun, but all of them, with all the horses, were hit.
Key, Limber Jim, Ned Carigan, Goody, Tom Larkin, and Ned Johnson led the advance with their companies.
Carrigan, Limber Jim, Larkin, Johnson and Goody each smote down a swath of men before them, as they moved resistlessly forward.
The supports had not been set with the same delicacy as at first, and Limber Jim had to set his heel and wrench desperately at them before he could force them out.
In this crowd were Key, Ned Carrigan, Limber Jim, Dick McCullough, the six hangmen, the two Corporals who pulled the props from under the scaffold, and perhaps some others whom I do not now remember.