Unknown; possibly related to limb or limp + -er, as seen in clever, slipper (“slippery”), waker (“alert”), etc.
Meanings
Flexible, pliant, bendable.
Not yet the bargeman that doth rowe / with long and limber oare 1567, George Turberville, “A Myrrour of the fall of Pride”, in Epitaphs, Epigrams, Songs and Sonnets, page 155:
This is a very complicated case, Maude. A lot of ins, a lot of outs. Fortunately, I'm adhering to a pretty strict drug regimen to keep my mind limber. 1998, Joel and Ethan Coen, The Big Lebowski (motion picture), spoken by The Dude (Jeff Bridges):
He's so limber that he can kiss his knee without bending it.
Unknown; possibly related to limb or limp + -er, as seen in clever, slipper (“slippery”), waker (“alert”), etc.
Meanings
(transitive) To cause to become limber; to make flexible or pliant.
Go back to the Island and limber up with a few drafts. 1990, LOOM hint book, p. 12
Her stiff hams, that have not been bent to a civility for ten years past, are now limbered into courtesies three deep at every word 1748, [Samuel Richardson], Clarissa. Or, The History of a Young Lady: […], volume (please specify |volume=I to VII), London: […] S[amuel] Richardson; [a]nd sold by John Osborn, […], →OCLC:
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limbers
Number=Sing, Person=3, Tense=Pres
lexicographic
limbering
Tense=Pres, VerbForm=Part
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limbered
Tense=Past, VerbForm=Part
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limbered
Tense=Past
lexicographic
Translations (8)
ro flexibiliza (to cause to become limber) · fi joustavoittaa (to cause to become limber) · fr flexibiliser (to cause to become limber) · gl flexibilizar (to cause to become limber) · es flexibilizar (to cause to become limber) · ga aclaigh (to cause to become limber) · it flessibilizzare (to cause to become limber) · pt flexibilizar (to cause to become limber)
For the obsolete limmer, from Old Norse limar (“branches”), plural of lim.
Meanings
A two-wheeled vehicle to which a wheeled artillery piece may be attached for transport. (Some versions have built-in storage bins for ammunition. Either the limber itself or the ammunition box may also be called a caisson.)
An' when the smoke 'ad cleared away, before the limber wheels, / There lay the Driver's Brother with 'is 'ead between 'is 'eels. 1892, Rudyard Kipling, “Snarleyow”, in Barrack-Room Ballads and Other Verses, 3rd edition, London: Methuen & Co. […], →OCLC, page 37:
As the limber gunners went to the rear, his horse trod in a rabbit-hole and came down, throwing him into a depression of the ground. 1895–1897, H[erbert] G[eorge] Wells, “At the Window”, in The War of the Worlds, London: William Heinemann, published 1898, →OCLC, book I (The Coming of the Martians), page 83:
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. 1985, Peter Carey, Illywhacker, Faber and Faber, published 2003, page 29:
(in-plural) The shafts or thills of a wagon or carriage.
(in-plural) Gutters or conduits on each side of the keelson to allow water to pass to the pump well.