GNU Collaborative International Dictionary of English

last match results

Found 3 definitions

1.       
   Limit , n. [From L. limes, limitis: cf. F. limite; -or from E. limit, v. See Limit, v. t.]
   That which terminates, circumscribes, restrains, or confines; the bound, border, or edge; the utmost extent; as, the limit of a walk, of a town, of a country; the limits of human knowledge or endeavor.
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   As eager of the chase, the maid
   Beyond the forest's verdant limits strayed.
   Pope.
   
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   The space or thing defined by limits.
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   The archdeacon hath divided it
   Into three limits very equally.
   Shak.
   
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   That which terminates a period of time; hence, the period itself; the full time or extent.
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   The dateless limit of thy dear exile.
   Shak.
   
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   The limit of your lives is out.
   Shak.
   
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   A restriction; a check; a curb; a hindrance.
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   I prithee, give no limits to my tongue.
   Shak.
   
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   (Logic & Metaph.) A determining feature; a distinguishing characteristic; a differentia.
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   (Math.) A determinate quantity, to which a variable one continually approaches, and may differ from it by less than any given difference, but to which, under the law of variation, the variable can never become exactly equivalent.
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   Elastic limit. See under Elastic. -- Prison limits, a definite, extent of space in or around a prison, within which a prisoner has liberty to go and come.
   Syn. -- Boundary; border; edge; termination; restriction; bound; confine.
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2.       
   Limit , v. t. [imp. & p. p. Limited; p. pr. & vb. n. Limiting.] [F. limiter, L. limitare, fr. limes, limitis, limit; prob. akin to limen threshold, E. eliminate; cf. L. limus sidelong.] To apply a limit to, or set a limit for; to terminate, circumscribe, or restrict, by a limit or limits; as, to limit the acreage of a crop; to limit the issue of paper money; to limit one's ambitions or aspirations; to limit the meaning of a word.
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   Limiting parallels (Astron.), those parallels of latitude between which only an occultation of a star or planet by the moon, in a given case, can occur.
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3.       
   Limit, v. i. To beg, or to exercise functions, within a certain limited region; as, a limiting friar. [Obs.]
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