Meanings
- obsoleteA periodic cooling wind in Cyprus, blowing from the northwest.
The heats increase as the summer advances, and would be altogether intolerable, if a cooling wind called limbat did not arise.
1797, Robert Heron, A Collection of Late Voyages and Travels2 more examples
There are various other periodical winds: of these, however, that generally known by the name of limbat, which is common in the island of Cyprus, shall only be mentioned here.
1807, Andrew Mackay, The Complete NavigatorThe intensity of the summer heat is, however, modified after a time by a cooling wind which [Giovanni] Mariti calls limbat. […] This limbat wind is said to be the cause of those fevers which attack the inhabitants, to which Europeans are even more subject.
1878, Frederic Henry Fisher, Cyprus, Our New Colony and What We Know About It, pages 59–60
Origin
- Ottoman Turkishامبات“sea breeze”
- Frenchlimbat
- Englishlimbat
From French limbat, a rebracketing of l’imbat, from Ottoman Turkish امبات (imbat, “sea breeze”). Doublet of imbat.
More words from French, Ottoman Turkish
Full word history & related roots →Rhymes & wordplay
Anagrams
Cite this entry
limbat. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 3, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/limbat
“limbat.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/limbat. Accessed November 3, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “limbat,” accessed November 3, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/limbat.
Source: limbat on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.