limber

English

Etymology 1

Unknown; possibly related to limb or limp.

Adjective

limber (comparative limberer, superlative limberest)

  1. Flexible, pliant, bendable.
    He's so limber that he can kiss his knee without bending it.
    • Turberville
      The bargeman that doth row with long and limber oar.
Derived terms
Translations

Verb

limber (third-person singular simple present limbers, present participle limbering, simple past and past participle limbered)

  1. To cause to become limber; to make flexible or pliant.
    • (Can we find and add a quotation of Richardson to this entry?)
Translations

Etymology 2

a limber attached to a field artillery piece and an artillery tractor

For the obsolete limmer, from Old Norse limar (branches), plural of lim.[1]

Noun

limber (plural limbers)

  1. (military) A two-wheeled vehicle to which a wheeled artillery piece or caisson may be attached for transport.
  2. (Should we delete(+) this sense?) (obsolete) A two-wheeled, horse-drawn vehicle used to pull an artillery piece into battle.
  3. (Should we delete(+) this sense?) (military) 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.
    • 1985, Peter Carey, Illywhacker, Faber and Faber 2003, p. 29:
      we covered the rutted, rattling, dusty pot-holed roads of coastal Victoria, six big Walers in front, the cannon at the rear, and that unsprung cart they called a ‘limber’ in the middle.
  4. (in the plural) The shafts or thills of a wagon or carriage.
  5. (nautical, in the plural) Gutters or conduits on each side of the keelson to allow water to pass to the pump well.
Usage notes
  • Sometimes the plural limbers was used to refer to a single such vehicle.
Translations

Verb

limber (third-person singular simple present limbers, present participle limbering, simple past and past participle limbered)

  1. (obsolete) To prepare an artillery piece for transportation (i.e., to attach it to its limber.)
Antonyms
Translations

See also

References

  1. limber in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, G. & C. Merriam, 1913.
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