subs. (old).—1. A mischievous child; an imp. Also (in depreciation to older persons) LIMB OF SATAN, &c.
1589. NASHE, Martin’s Months Minde [GROSART (1883–4), i. 155]. The right ofspring of him, that is termed Sathanas, and accuser of his brethren, and a verie LIMME of him.
1625. JONSON, The Staple of News, iii. 2. She had it from a LIMB o’ the school, she says, a little limb of nine year old.
1706. R. ESTCOURT, The Fair Example, iii. 2. p. 34. Blood and thunder! I’ll broil ye, you LIMB OF SATAN.
1815. SCOTT, Guy Mannering, xxxiv. Meg Merrilies the old DEVIL’S LIMB of a gipsy witch.
1862. C. S. CALVERLEY, Verses and Translations, p. 7. He was what nurses call a LIMB.
1864. Derby Day, p. 68. You LIMB OF BRIMSTONE; just let me get hold of you.
1880. G. R. SIMS, Ballads of Babylon (Little Jim).
| Our little Jim | |
| Was such a LIMB | |
| His mother scarce could manage him. |
1892. T. A. GUTHRIE (‘F. Anstey’), Mr. Punch’s Model Music-Hall Songs & Dramas, p. 94. Now I’ve grown into an awful young LIMB!
2. (American colloquial).—A leg.
1720. RAMSAY, The Scribbler’s Lashed, p. 8.
| If Nellie’s hoop be twice as wide, | |
| As her twa pretty LIMBS can stride. |
1857. REV. A. C. GEIKIE, Canadian Journal, Sept. If we know anything of English conversation or letters, we speedily find out, even if stone blind, that British men and women have arms and legs, but in Canada … he would learn that both sexes have LIMBS of some sort … but he could not tell whether their LIMBS were used to stand on or hold by.
1858. Pittsburg Chronicle, June. The poor brute [a horse] fell … fracturing his LIMB.
1861. O. W. HOLMES, Elsie Venner, vii. ‘A bit of the wing, Rovy, or of—the under LIMB?’ The first laugh broke out at this.
1867. UPHAM, Witchcraft, ii. 348. One of her larger LIMBS was fractured in the all but desperate attempt to rescue her from the prison-walls.
1870. R. G. WHITE, Words and Their Uses, s.v. LIMB for LEG. Perhaps these persons think that it is indelicate for women to have legs.
1872. DE VERE, Americanisms. LIMB, instead of LEG, one of the ludicrous evidences of the false prudishness prevailing in certain classes of American society.
3. In pl. (common).—A gawk. Also DUKE or DUCHESS OF LIMBS.
1785. GROSE, A Classical Dictionary of the Vulgar Tongue, s.v. Limbs.
1859. G. W. MATSELL, Vocabulum; or, The Rogue’s Lexicon, s.v.
Verb. (common).—To cheat.
1878. J. HATTON, Cruel London, Bk. II. ch. v. ‘They have had me, bless you,’ said Bragford, ‘the men who have LIMBED you and cursed the hand that fed them.’
LIMB OF THE LAW, subs. phr. (old).—A lawyer or lawyer’s clerk. Also LIMB.
1762. SMOLLETT, Sir Launcelot Greaves, I. ii. Then fixing his eyes upon Ferret, he proceeded—‘An’t you a LIMB OF THE LAW, friend?’
1770. FOOTE, The Lame Lover, iii. Sir Luke. Well said, my young LIMB OF THE LAW.
1785. GROSE, A Classical Dictionary of the Vulgar Tongue, s.v.
1798. J. H. TOOKE, Ἕπεα πτερόεντα; or, The Diversions of Purley, ii. ch. 4. Limb is from the A.S. verb Limpian, pertinere…. ‘Limb of the Body, LIMB OF THE LAW,’ etc.
1818–24. P. EGAN, Boxiana, iii. 210. Jack and his pal, a LIMB OF THE LAW, were screwed up the whole of the darkey in the compter.
1836. DICKENS, Pickwick Papers, xliii. p. 377. ‘Now, Sammy, I know a gen’lm’n here, as’ll do the rest o’ the bisness for us, in no time—a LIMB O’ THE LAW, Sammy, as has got brains like the frogs, dispersed all over his body … a friend of the Lord Chancellorship’s, Sammy.’
1889. Cassell’s Saturday Journal, 9 Feb., p. 471. That good-looking LIMB OF THE LAW who went wild over you.
TO MINGLE LIMBS, verb. phr. (old).—To copulate.
1629. DAVENANT, Albovine, iv. I’st fit I proffer her TO MINGLE LIMBS?
