Legal Definition and Related Resources of Limb

Meaning of Limb

Ordinarily, only a member useful in fight, and the loss of which would amount to mayhem at common law. 1 Bl. Comm. 130. Sometimes metaphorically used for general physical safety.

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This definition of Limb is based on the The Cyclopedic Law Dictionary . This entry needs to be proofread.

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Etimology of Limb

(You may find limb at the world legal encyclopedia and the etimology of more terms).

part or member, Old English lim “limb of the body; any part of an animal body, distinct from the head and trunk;” main branch of a tree,” from Proto-Germanic *limu- (source also of Old Norse limr “limb,” lim “small branch of a tree”), a variant of *li_u- (source of Old English li_, Old Frisian lith, Old Norse li_r, Gothic li_us “a limb;” and with prefix ga-, source of German Glied “limb, member”). The unetymological -b began to appear late 1500s for no etymological reason (perhaps by influence of limb (n.2)). The Old English plural was often limu; limen and other plural forms in -n lasted into Middle English. Since c. 1400 especially of a leg; in Victorian English this usage was somewhat euphemistic, “out of affected or prudish unwillingness to use the word leg” [Century Dictionary]. However in Old and Middle English, and until lately in dialects, it could mean “any visible body part”: The lymmes of generacion were shewed manyfestly. [Caxton, “The subtyl historyes and fables of Esope, Auyan, Alfonce, and Poge,” 1484] Hence, limb-lifter “fornicator” (1570s). Limb of the law was 18c. derisive slang for a lawyer or police officer. To go out on a limb in figurative sense “enter a risky situation” is from 1897. Alliterative life and limb in reference to the body inclusively is from c. 1200. Obsolete limb-meal (adverb) “limb-from-limb, piecemeal” is from late Old English lim-mælum.

Limb