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Of vvhat texte thou proveſt hell / vvill a nother prove purgatory / a nother lymbo patrum / and a nother the aſſumpcion of oure ladi: And a nother ſhall prove of the ſame texte that an Ape hath a tayle.
VVith all our heart, fare-vvell, fare-vvell, / I am freed from Lymbo, to be ſent to hell.
1626 November 15 (Gregorian calendar), John Donne, “The Third of My Prebend Sermons upon My Five Psalms. Sermon LXVII. Preached at St. Paul’s, November 5, 1626.”, in Henry Alford, editor, The Works of John Donne, D.D.,, volume III, London: John W Parker,, published 1839, →OCLC, page 183:
And they who have multiplied hells unto us, and made more hells than God hath made, more by their two limboes, (one for fathers, another for children) and one purgatory, have yet made their new hells more of the nature of heaven than of hell.
1992, William R. LaFleur, “Jizō at the Crosswords”, in Liquid Life: Abortion and Buddhism in Japan, Princeton, N.J.: Princeton University Press, →ISBN, part 1 (Original Concepts), page 57:
Limbo, or more exactly the notion of two different limbos within Christendom, was also an invention. Many medieval Christians had difficulty accepting the idea of eternal punishment meted out to two categories of persons who, on strictly technical grounds, were "outside" the Church and otherwise quite beyond the pale. The first category embraced wise and just people who died before the coming of Christ, and the second included all infants born within Christendom but, unfortunately, unbaptized at the time of their death.
It is hard to place thoſe ſoules in Hell vvhoſe vvorthy lives doe teach us vertue on earth; methinks amongſt thoſe many ſubdiviſions of hel, there might have been one Limbo left for theſe: […]
1642 April, John Milton, An Apology for Smectymnuus; republished in A Complete Collection of the Historical, Political, and Miscellaneous Works of John Milton,, volume I, Amsterdam [actually London: s.n.], 1698, →OCLC, page 178:
Proceeding further, I am met vvith a vvhole ging of vvords and phraſes not mine, for he hath maim'd them, and like a ſlye depraver mangl'd them in this his vvicked Limbo, vvorſe then the ghoſt of Deiphobus appear'd to his friend Æneas.
hat myſterious iniquity provokt and troubl'd at the firſt entrance of Reformation, ſought out nevv limbo's and nevv hells vvherein they might include our Booke alſo vvithin the number of their damned.
1667, John Milton, “Book III”, in Paradise Lost., London: [Samuel Simmons], and are to be sold by Peter Parker; nd by Robert Boulter; nd Matthias Walker,, →OCLC; republished as Paradise Lost in Ten Books:, London: Basil Montagu Pickering, 1873, →OCLC, lines 489 and 492–496:
hen might ye ſee / […] / Indulgences, Diſpenſes, Pardons, Bulls, / The ſport of Winds: all theſe upwhirld aloft / Fly o're the backſide of the World farr off / Into a Limbo large and broad, ſince calld / The Paradiſe of Fools, […]
[…] Milton has interwoven in the texture of his fable, some particulars which do not seem to have probability enough for an epic poem, particularly in the actions which he ascribes to Sin and Death, and the picture he draws of the ‘Limbo of Vanity,’ with other passages in the second book.
Society sails through the Infinitude on Cloth, as on a Faust's Mantle, or rather like the Sheet of clean and unclean beasts in the Apostle's Dream; and without such Sheet or Mantle, would sink to endless depths, or mount to inane limboes, and in either case be no more.
Homœpathy, so-called, is an unutterable humbug, and is to be consigned to the eternal Limbos of the Unblessed—where, indeed, it is already for the most part gone.
rged beyond that line where the soul is mistress over herself, he lost himself in those delicious limboes, which the vulgar call so foolishly "the imaginary regions."
a.1899 (date written), William Cowper Brann, “Talmage the Turgid”, in The Complete Works of Brann the Iconoclast, volume I, New York, N.Y.: The Brann Publishers, published 1919, page 200:
His [Thomas De Witt Talmage's] so-called "sermons" are but fragmentary and usually ignorant allusions to things in general. He seldom or never encroaches upon the realms of science and philosophy, although he frequently attempts it, and evidently imagines that he is succeeding admirably, when he is but sloshing around, like a drunken comet that is chiefly tail, in inane limboes.
1997, Joy Ann James, “Black Feminism: Liberation Limbos and Existence in Gray”, in Lewis R Gordon, editor, Existence in Black: An Anthology of Black Existential Philosophy, New York, N.Y., London: Routledge, →ISBN, part IV (Black Existence and Black Liberation), page 216:
Like unbaptized children and the non-Christian righteous, black feminisms have been relegated to an outer realm where, while not exactly punished for their sins, they are ghettoized for an alleged poor timing and inability to encounter the "larger paradigms" undergirding existence. Women from oppressed peoples routinely find themselves in liberation limbos.
2021 May 5, Philip Haigh, “I Think We Need Better than This from the Rail Industry”, in Rail, number 930, Peterborough, Cambridgeshire: Bauer Media, →ISSN, →OCLC, page 51:
But the railway is in limbo, paralysed by indecision. Let's have some clarity.
The bigger worry for the Mail is that, if any of the claims are successful, it could open the door for other cases against the newspaper that could leave it in legal limbo for years.
Adr[iana]. VVhere is thy Maſter Dromio? Is he vvell? / S. Dro. [Dromio of Syracuse] No, he's in Tartar limbo, vvorſe then hell: […] / S. Dro. I doe not knovv the matter, hee is reſted [i.e., arrested] on the caſe. / Adr. VVhat is he arreſted? tell me at vvhoſe ſuite?
Theſe are the youths that thunder at a Playhouſe, and fight for bitten Apples, that no Audience but the tribulation of Tovver Hill, or the Limbes of Limehouſe, their deare Brothers are able to endure. I haue ſome of 'em in Limbo Patrum, and there they are like to dance theſe three dayes; beſides the running Banquet of tvvo Beadles, that is to come.
n she went, / To find the Knight in Limbo pent: / And 'twas not long before she found / Him, and his stout Squire in the Pound; / Both coupled in Inchanted Tether, / By further Leg behind together: […]
1796 February, Constantia [pseudonym; Judith Sargent Murray], “The Traveller Returned, Concluded”, in The Gleaner. A Miscellaneous Production., volume III, number LXXXIV, Boston, Mass.: I Thomas and E T. Andrews,, →OCLC, act IV, scene iii, page 156:
Patr[ick]. […] hame burn my cheek! My maſter, d'ye ſee, had gotten into the limboes; […] / Major C[amden]. But vvhat do you mean by your maſter's being in the limboes, Patrick? / Patr. VVhy, Maſter Tipſtaff here—Isn't it Tipſtaff ye call him?—kidnapped him; that's all, Honey.
Abbot Samson […] hurls out a bolt or two of excommunication: lo, one disobedient Monk sits in limbo, excommunicated, with foot-shackles on him, all day; and three more our Abbot has gyved 'with the lesser sentence, to strike fear into the others!'
1881, Walter Besant, James Rice, “How the Doctor was at Home to His Friends”, in The Chaplain of the Fleet, volume I, London: Chatto and Windus,, →OCLC, part I (Within the Rules), page 217:
The room was half full: there were, […] poets not yet in limbo; authors who were still able to pay for their lodgings; young fellows whose creditors were still forbearing; […]
Blind Thaddeus O'Gorman was soon sent to limbo, safely secured in the police lock-up at Green Skipperton, whence he was removed next day to the nearest gaol, there to await trial at the next assize.
s your doctrine is exceedingly evil, by Yamjamma's theory it follows, that you must be proportionably bedeviled; and since it harms others, your devil is of the number of those whom it is best to limbo; and since he is one of those that can be limboed, limboed he shall be in you.
Macedonian: please add this translation if you can
Etymology 2
A man performing the limbo (etymology 2, noun sense).
Origin uncertain; possibly an alteration of limber(“bendable, flexible, pliant”) with the ending of the word respelled to represent a Caribbean English pronunciation.[3]
It is unclear whether the verb is derived from the noun, or the noun is derived from the verb; the noun is attested slightly earlier.[3][4]
Every limbo boy and girl / All around the limbo world / Gonna do the limbo rock / All around the limbo clock / Jack be limbo, Jack be quick / Jack go under limbo stick / All around the limbo clock / Hey, let's do the limbo rock
1992, Susan Farewell, “The United States Virgin Islands”, in Alan Tucker, editor, The Berlitz Travellers Guide to the Caribbean 1993, New York, N.Y., Oxford, Oxfordshire: Berlitz Publishing Company, →ISBN, →ISSN, page 140:
At night steel-band and calypso shows liven up many of the island's larger hotels. If you're not up for watching limbos, bottle dancing, and fire eating, your best bet might be a leisurely dinner before settling down on chaise longues around your hotel's pool with a couple of fruity concoctions.
2016, Linda Parker Hamilton, “Games in the Outdoors”, in Camping Activity Book for Families; The Kid-tested Guide to Fun in the Outdoors, Guilford, Conn., Helena, Mont.: FalconGuides, Rowman & Littlefield, →ISBN, page 122, column 2:
Limbo is a traditional popular dance contest that originated on the island of Trinidad. It got its name in the 1950s, but the limbo dates back to the 1800s in Trinidad. […] R&B singer-songwriter Chubby Checker, who popularized the Twist, also popularized the limbo dance and the phrase "How low can you go?" The world record for the lowest limbo dance is only 8.5 inches above the ground!
Translations
competitive dance in which dancers take turns to cross under a horizontal bar while bending backwards
1967 November 24, “Miscellany: Stoop to Conquer”, in George P. Hunt, editor, Life, volume 63, number 21, Chicago, Ill., New York, N.Y.: Time Inc., →ISSN, →OCLC, page 124:
Steve Becker was rolling around with the other skaters at the Pismo Beach, Calif. roller rink one day when it was announced that there would be a limbo contest. […] Steve had his friends set the bar lower and lower while he got flatter and flatter, until finally, at just over a foot and almost spread-eagled, he reached his limboing limit.
A noun use, applied to passing under a horizontal bar on roller-skates.
1993 May–June, Kathleen Ring, “Coming Attractions”, in Snow Country: The Year-round Magazine of Skiing, Mountain Sports & Living, volume 6, number 3, Trumbull, Conn.: NYT Sports/Leisure Magazines, →ISSN, →OCLC, page 68, column 3:
The race begins at Alyeska Resort with an alpine skiing leg. It then proceeds through a downhill sprint, an in-line skate, a mountain bike ride, a 5K run, a wheelchair obstacle course and, if all that wasn't enough, a three-legged race in which participants chug a beer or soda before limboing under the tape.
2016, Linda Parker Hamilton, “Games in the Outdoors”, in Camping Activity Book for Families; The Kid-tested Guide to Fun in the Outdoors, Guilford, Conn., Helena, Mont.: FalconGuides, Rowman & Littlefield, →ISBN, page 122:
After each player goes under once, the bar is lowered about an inch. Players keep limboing under the limbo stick as it gets lower and lower. If you touch the stick with any part of your body, you're out. The last person left is the winner.
How low can you go? Technology stocks limboed lower and lower last week as investors danced to the profit-taking beat.
1994, Lois Ruby, “No Nancy Drews”, in Steal Away Home (Aladdin Historical Fiction), New York, N.Y.: Aladdin Paperbacks, published January 1999, →ISBN, page 41:
Ahn slept over on Friday night, and as soon as the parents were asleep, Dana and Ahn limboed under the criss-cross barriers into the secret chamber.
he Private […]limboed to his seat [in a mini-submarine], thrusting his chest up and twisting to the right, one arm behind him, steadying himself on the chair as he slid in.
e find that the NRC does a very good job at setting the safety bar at the right height. […] They don't do a very good job of enforcing those regulations. Too many plant owners are limboing beneath the safety bar for too long, putting Americans at higher risk, and additionally driving the costs of nuclear power upwards inexplicably.
2012 September 24, Anthony Linick, “June 2007”, in A Doggy Day in London Town: Life among the Dog People of Paddington Rec, volume IV, Bloomington, Ind.: AuthorHouse, →ISBN, page 27:
Daisy-Mae [a dog] also distinguishes herself by limboing under the picnic ground fence. I have to go back in order to use the gate into this spot, where I can retrieve the little madam.
“limbo”, in Kielitoimiston sanakirja [Dictionary of Contemporary Finnish] (in Finnish) (online dictionary, continuously updated), Kotimaisten kielten keskuksen verkkojulkaisuja 35, Helsinki: Kotimaisten kielten tutkimuskeskus (Institute for the Languages of Finland), 2004–, retrieved 2023-07-03
, Oxford: Oxford University Press, March 2023; “limbo1, n.”, in Lexico, Dictionary.com; Oxford University Press, 2019–2022.
limbo on Wikipedia.Wikipedia 