See Also: limbo(1)(dictionary)
limbo(2)(dictionary)
limbo(dictionary)
limbo(encyclopedia)
limbo(dictionary)
gumbo-limbo(dictionary)

limbo(1) (iou)



limbo noun1. Pl. -os. LME.
[Latin, abl. sing. of LIMBUS, in phrs. like in limbo, e (= out of) limbo.]
Christian Church. A region supposed in some beliefs to exist on the border of Hell as the abode of the just who died before Christ's coming and of unbaptized infants. LME.
b. Hell, Hades. L16-M17.
Prison, confinement. Formerly also, pawn. slang. L16.
An unfavourable place or condition, likened to limbo; esp. a condition of neglect or oblivion to which people or things are consigned when regarded as superseded, useless, or absurd; an intermediate or indeterminate condition; a state of inaction or inattention pending some future event. M17.
E. Huxley Legally, the Irish occupy a curious limbo. U. Le Guin A fever that..left him in a limbo between reason and unreason. Jan Morris Hav remained in a kind of limbo until..the League of Nations declared its mandate. Independent These prisoners are totally in limbo..No one is responsible for their welfare.
Comb.: limbo-lake the abode of spirits or tormented souls.