- Limit
- Limit Lim"it (l[i^]m"[i^]t), n. [From L. limes, limitis: cf.
F. limite; -or from E. limit, v. See {Limit}, v. t.]
1. 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.
[1913 Webster]
As eager of the chase, the maid Beyond the forest's verdant limits strayed. --Pope. [1913 Webster]
2. The space or thing defined by limits. [1913 Webster]
The archdeacon hath divided it Into three limits very equally. --Shak. [1913 Webster]
3. That which terminates a period of time; hence, the period itself; the full time or extent. [1913 Webster]
The dateless limit of thy dear exile. --Shak. [1913 Webster]
The limit of your lives is out. --Shak. [1913 Webster]
4. A restriction; a check; a curb; a hindrance. [1913 Webster]
I prithee, give no limits to my tongue. --Shak. [1913 Webster]
5. (Logic & Metaph.) A determining feature; a distinguishing characteristic; a differentia. [1913 Webster]
6. (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. [1913 Webster]
{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. [1913 Webster]
The Collaborative International Dictionary of English. 2000.
