n. [ from Colonel Blimp, a fictional character ] any elderly pompous reactionary.
Syn. -- Colonel Blimp. [ WordNet 1.5 ]

2. a small nonrigid airship used for observation or as a barrage balloon.
Syn. -- sausage balloon, sausage. [ WordNet 1.5 ]

adj. [ from Colonel Blimp, a fictional character ] pompously ultraconservative and nationalistic. [ WordNet 1.5 ]

n. [ For glimse, from the root of glimmer. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

1. A sudden flash; transient luster. [ 1913 Webster ]

LIght as the lightning glimpse they ran. Milton. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. A short, hurried view; a transitory or fragmentary perception; a quick sight. [ 1913 Webster ]

Here hid by shrub wood, there by glimpses seen. S. Rogers. [ 1913 Webster ]

3. A faint idea; an inkling. [ 1913 Webster ]

v. i. [ imp. & p. p. Glimpsed p. pr. & vb. n. Glimpsing. ] to appear by glimpses; to catch glimpses. Drayton. [ 1913 Webster ]

v. t. To catch a glimpse of; to see by glimpses; to have a short or hurried view of. [ 1913 Webster ]

Some glimpsing and no perfect sight. Chaucer. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. A manner of walking in which the movement of one or both legs is noticeably abnormal, usually due to injury or disease; a halt; the act of limping. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. (Ore Washing) A scraper for removing poor ore or refuse from the sieve. [ 1913 Webster ]

a. [ Cf. Icel. limpa limpness, weakness, and E. lap, n., lop, v. t. Cf. Limber, a. ] 1. Flaccid; flabby, as flesh. Walton. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. Lacking stiffness; flimsy; as, a limp cravat. [ 1913 Webster ]

v. i. [ imp. & p. p. Limped p. pr. & vb. n. Limping. ] [ Cf. AS. lemphealt lame, OHG. limphen to limp, be weak; perh. akin to E. lame, or to limp, a √120. ] To halt; to walk lamely. Also used figuratively. Shak. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. [ Swedish ] a type of rye bread, made using molasses or brown sugar. MW10 [ PJC ]

n. One who limps. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. [ Prob. through French fr. L. lepas, -adis, Gr. lepa`s, -a`dos. ] (Zool.) 1. In a general sense, any hatshaped, or conical, gastropod shell. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. Any one of many species of marine shellfish of the order Docoglossa, mostly found adhering to rocks, between tides. [ 1913 Webster ]

☞ The common European limpets of the genus Patella (esp. Patella vulgata) are extensively used as food. The common New England species is Acmæa testudinalis. Numerous species of limpets occur on the Pacific coast of America, some of them of large size. [ 1913 Webster ]

3. Hence: Somthing or someone that clings tenaciously to another object or person; specifically a military explosive device having magnets allowing it to cling to a metallic target object, such as the hull of a ship. [ PJC ]

3. Any species of Siphonaria, a genus of limpet-shaped Pulmonifera, living between tides, on rocks. [ 1913 Webster ]

4. A keyhole limpet. See Fissurella. [ 1913 Webster ]

a. [ L. limpidus; akin to Gr. la`mpein to shine: cf. F. limpide. Cf. Lamp. ] 1. Characterized by clearness or transparency; clear; as, a limpid stream. [ 1913 Webster ]

Springs which were clear, fresh, and limpid. Woodward.

2. Clear and unambiguous; lucid; easy to understand; -- of speech and writing; as, limpid prose. [ PJC ]

3. Calm, untroubled, and without worry; serene. [ PJC ]

Syn. -- Clear; transparent; pellucid; lucid; pure; crystal; translucent; bright. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. [ L. limpiditas: cf. F. limpidité. ] The quality or state of being limpid. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. Quality of being limpid; limpidity. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. A limpet. [ Obs. ] Holland. [ 1913 Webster ]

adv. In a limping manner. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. Limpidity. [ Obs. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

n. (Zool.) Either one of two species of wading birds of the genus Aramus, intermediate between the cranes and rails. The limpkins are remarkable for the great length of the toes. One species (Aramus giganteus) inhabits Florida and the West Indies; the other (Aramus scolopaceus) is found in South America. Called also courlan, and crying bird. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. The quality or state of being limp. [ 1913 Webster ]

{ } a. [ See Limp, a., and cf. W. llymsi having a fickle motion, weak. Cf. Flimsy. ] Limp; flexible; flimsy. [ Local, U. S. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

n. [ L. palimpsestus, Gr. pali`mpshstos scratched or scraped again, pali`mpshston a palimpsest; pa`lin again + psh^n to rub, rub away: cf. F. palimpseste. ] A parchment which has been written upon twice, the first writing having been erased to make place for the second. The erasures of ancient writings were usually carried on in monasteries, to allow the production of ecclesiastical texts, such as copies of church services and lives of the saints. The difficulty of recovering the original text varied with the process used to prepare the parchment for a fresh writing; the original texts on parchments which had been washed with lime-water and dried were easily recovered by a chemical process, but those erased by scraping the parchment and bleaching are difficult to interpret. Most of the manuscripts underlying the palimpsests that have been revived are fragmentary, but some are of great historical value. One Syriac version of the Four Gospels was discovered in 1895 in St. Catherine's Monastery at Mount Sinai by Mrs. Agnes Smith Lewis. See also the notes below. Longfellow. [ 1913 Webster ]

☞ Palimpsest is the name given to ancient parchments which have been used more than once for writing purposes. The conquest of Egypt by the Saracens in the 7th century cut off from Europe the papyrus which was used to write on, and parchment could be had only in limited quantities. So through the dark ages, old manuscripts were used, after removing the first writing upon them. Sometimes the writing was washed off with a sponge, and the parchment smoothed with pumice stone; at other times the letters were scraped away with a sharp blade. Nearly all ancient manuscripts, however, were written with an ink which could not be entirely removed, and traces of a former writing could be seen beneath the new copy. In modern times there have been various efforts to restore these ancient writings by some chemical treatment. In this way have been found copies of the Republic of Cicero, the Institutes of Gaius, a part of the Epistle to the Romans, and other parts of the Old and New Testaments. The Republic of Cicero was covered by a commentary on the Psalms, written by St. Augustine. Student's Cyclopedia, 1897. [ PJC ]

☞ In an auction on November 6, 1998, a 12th-century palimpsest of one of Archimedes' works was sold for 2 million dollars. The 174-page book, the oldest known copy of Archimedes' work, had been owned by a French family since the 1920s, and was sold by Christie's auction house in New York to an unidentified private American collector. The palimpsest volume includes notes and calculations for two of the Greek mathematician's most famous theories, On Floating Bodies and Method of Mechanical Theorems. A Christie's spokesperson said the buyer, who was not identified, indicated that the work would be made available to scholars. Also bidding was the Greek government, which claimed the work was stolen from a library in the former Constantinople, now Istanbul, and belonged to Greece. According to the Athens News Agency, the Patriarchate of Jerusalem took Christie's to court claiming that the manuscript was part of its library, which had been transferred to Istanbul and later to Athens for safekeeping. The court, however, ruled that Christie's had the right to auction the manuscript for a French family, which claimed to own it for the last 75 years since one of the family's ancestors bought it from Orthodox monks in Istanbul. According to the court's ruling, French law applied in the case, under which a person who holds any object for more than 30 years becomes its rightful owner. [ PJC ]