Forms: 1 lempedu, 4–7 lempet(t, (7 lampert, lympit, -pot), 7–9 limpit, (8 limpid), 8–9 Sc. lampit, lempeck, 7– limpet. See also LIMPIN. [OE. lǫmpedu, a. late L. lamprēda limpet, also LAMPREY.] A gasteropod mollusk of the genus Patella, having an open tent-shaped shell and found adhering tightly to the rock which it makes its resting-place.

1

c. 1050.  Voc., in Wr.-Wülcker, 438/17. Lemprida, lempedu.

2

1312–3.  Durham Acc. Rolls (Surtees), 10. In lempetis.

3

c. 1560.  A. Scott, Poems (S. T. S.), v. 33. Lapstaris, lempettis, mussillis in schellis.

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1602.  Carew, Cornwall, 30. Of shell fish, there are Wrinkles, Limpets, Cockles [etc.].

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1673.  Sir W. Scroggs, Lett. to Ld. Hatton, in H. Corr. (1878), 117. Those lympitts yt wer never seene in England lack wine to make ’em tast.

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1684.  Bucaniers Amer. (1698), II. 155. Every day we had plenty of Lamperts and Mussels of a very large size.

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1685.  Phil. Trans., XV. 1284. And tast as well as Lympots or Winkles.

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1726.  Swift, Gulliver, IV. xi. 168. I continued three Days feeding on Oysters and Limpits, to save my own Provisions.

9

1748.  H. Ellis, Hudson’s Bay, 171. Shells are seldom met with; the only ones I saw were Limpids, Muscles, and Periwincles.

10

1842.  Johnston, in Proc. Berw. Nat. Club, II. No. 10. 36. The Limpet or Lempecks. These have a rather thin shell of a greenish colour.

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  b.  fig. and allusive.

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1824.  Scott, St. Ronan’s, xxxi. He … stuck like a lampit to a rock.

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1875.  Tennyson, Q. Mary, III. i. Be limpets to this pillar, or we are torn Down the strong wave of brawlers.

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  c.  attrib. and Comb., as limpet rock, shell; limpet-shaped, -shelled adjs.

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1577.  Harrison, England, II. xiii. (1877), I. 255. The workemen happened oftentimes upon lempet shels.

16

1786.  Burns, Earnest Cry & Prayer, vii. Triumphant crushin’t like a mussel Or lampit shell.

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1818.  Keats, Ep. to Reynolds, 88. The first page I read Upon a Lampit rock of green sea-weed Among the breakers.

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1822–34.  Good’s Study Med. (ed. 4), IV. 477. Limpet-shelled blain.

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1897.  Mary Kingsley, W. Africa, 17. The hat … a large limpet-shaped affair made of palm leaves.

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