limber

English

Unknown; possibly related to limb or limp.

limber (comparative limberer, superlative limberest)

Flexible, pliant, bendable.
He's so limber that he can kiss his knee without bending it.
- Turberville
  The bargeman that doth row with long and limber oar.

Terms derived from limber

flexible — see flexible

limber (third-person singular simple present limbers, present participle limbering, simple past and past participle limbered)

To cause to become limber; to make flexible or pliant.
- (Can we find and add a quotation of Richardson to this entry?)

to cause to become limber

For the obsolete limmer, from Old Norse limar (“branches”), plural of lim.^[1]

limber (plural limbers)

(obsolete) A two-wheeled, horse-drawn vehicle used to pull an artillery piece into battle.
(in the plural) The shafts or thills of a wagon or carriage.
(military) The detachable fore part of a gun carriage, consisting of two wheels, an axle, and a shaft to which the horses are attached. On top is an ammunition box upon which the cannoneers sit.
- 1985, Peter Carey, Illywhacker, Faber and Faber 2003, p. 29:
  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.
(nautical, in the plural) Gutters or conduits on each side of the keelson to allow water to pass to the pump well.

two-wheeled vehicle

limber (third-person singular simple present limbers, present participle limbering, simple past and past participle limbered)

(obsolete) To prepare an artillery piece for transportation (i.e., to attach it to its limber.)

prepare an artillery piece for transportation

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