limp

present singular third person limps · participle present limping · participle past limped · past limped

1. intransitiveTo walk lamely, as if favoring one leg.

   Dirk Kuyt sandwiched a goal in between Carroll's double as City endured a night of total misery, with captain Carlos Tevez limping off early on with a hamstring strain that puts a serious question mark over his participation in Saturday's FA Cup semi-final against Manchester United at Wembley.

   2011 April 11, Phil McNulty, “Liverpool 3 - 0 Man City”, in BBC Sport

2. figurativelyintransitiveTo travel with a malfunctioning system of propulsion.

   The bomber limped home on one engine.

3. figurativelyintransitiveTo move or proceed irregularly.

   limping verses

   3 more examples

   The business limped through the recession

   I think, too, of other organizations that are doing much good work for us, and maybe with words are cheered on, but when it comes to the dollars and cents, few are willing to make any sort of sacrifice to put their money where their mouth is. The National Gay Task Force is an excellent example... drawing on the support of gay people in fifty states, yet having to limp along on $65,000 a year budgets. Organizations like Christian Cause, that would wipe us out if they could, draw ten times that amount with little effort.

   1976 August 28, John C. Lawrence, “H.C.H.S Support”, in Gay Community News, volume 4, number 9, page 5

   And so we limped along for another month or two, pretending we still had a reason to be together.

   2012, The Onion Book of Known Knowledge, page 121

4. intransitiveslangcard gamesTo call, particularly in an unraised pot pre-flop.

plural limps

1. An irregular, jerky or awkward gait.

   She walks with a limp.

2. A scraper for removing poor ore or refuse from the sieve.

comparative limper · superlative limpest

1. Flaccid; flabby, resembling flesh.
2. Lacking stiffness; floppy, flimsy.

   a limp rope

3. Soft; weak, especially physically.

   Another line-out was stolen, and when the ball was sent left Clerc stepped and spun through limp challenges from Wilkinson, Chris Ashton and Foden to dive over and make it 11-0.

   2011 October 8, Tom Fordyce, “Rugby World Cup 2011: England 12-19 France”, in BBC Sport, archived from the original on 08 Mar 2025

4. slangNot erect.
5. slangNot having an erection.

present singular third person limps · participle present limping · participle past limped · past limped

1. intransitivestativeTo be inadequate or unsatisfactory.

plural limps

1. A scraper of board or sheet-iron shaped like half the head of a small cask, used for scraping the ore off the sieve in the operation of hand-jigging.

present singular third person limps · participle present limping · past lamp · past limped · participle past lump · participle past limped

1. intransitiveobsoleteTo happen; befall; chance.
2. obsoletetransitiveTo come upon; meet.

alternative Limp

1. abbreviationacronymhistoricalAcronym of Louis XIV, James II, Queen Mary of Modena and the Prince of Wales (a code-word among Jacobites)

   Even if he were set at liberty, what could he do but haunt Jacobite coffeehouses, squeeze oranges, and drink the health of Limp?

   1915, Thomas Babington Macaulay Baron Macaulay, Charles Harding Firth, The History of England: From the Accession of James the Second

   1 more example

   To intimidate the people, you drew up Resolves, and an Address to his Majesty, founded on evidence from Governor Barnard, the Commissioners of Revenue, Custom-house Officers, and a few poor, expectant and dependent creatures, whom your Limp corresponds with in Boston; and thereby, having imposed upon, and deceived the legislature, sanctified your despotism, at the expence of their last Liberties;

   1770, A Lee, The Political Detection: Or, the Treachery and Tyranny of Administration, Both at Home and Abroad;, page 4