limbo

• (UK) IPA^(key): /ˈlɪmbəʊ/

  • Audio (UK)

    (file)

• (US) IPA^(key): /ˈlɪmboʊ/
• Rhymes: -ɪmbəʊ
• Hyphenation: lim‧bo

From Middle English lymbo; equivalent to Latin limbus (“border”) (cognate with limp), notably in the (ablative) expression in limbō (“on the edge”).

limbo (countable and uncountable, plural limbos)

1. (Roman Catholicism) The place where innocent souls exist temporarily until they can enter heaven, notably those of the saints who died before the advent of Christ (limbus patruum) and those of unbaptized but innocent children (limbus infantum). [from circa 5th c.]
2. (by extension) Any in-between place, state or condition of neglect or oblivion which results in an unresolved status, delay or deadlock. [from 16th c.]

   My passport application has been stuck in bureaucratic limbo for two weeks.

   • 2021 May 5, Philip Haigh, “I think we need better than this from the rail industry”, in RAIL, number 930, page 51:

     But the railway is in limbo, paralysed by indecision. Let's have some clarity.

   • 2022 October 7, Jim Waterson, “Legal action by Doreen Lawrence and Prince Harry could mire Daily Mail for years”, in The Guardian‎, ISSN 0261-3077:

     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.

3. (slang, archaic) A lockup or jail cell.
   • 1894, Arthur George Frederick Griffiths, Secrets of the Prison-house: Or, Gaol Studies and Sketches (page 144)

     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.

• limbo set

• aftermath
• hell
• paradise
• purgatory

Word of uncertain West Indian (notably Jamaican) origin, probably an alteration of limber as it is a physical agility test.

limbo (plural limbos)

1. A dance in which dancers take turns crossing under a horizontal bar or stick. The stick is lowered with each round, and the game is won by the player who passes under the bar in the lowest position.
   • 1993, Alan Tucker, The Berlitz Travellers Guide to the Caribbean (page 149)

     If you're not up for watching limbos, bottle dancing, and fire eating, your best bet might be a leisurely dinner […]

limbo (third-person singular simple present limbos, present participle limboing, simple past and past participle limboed)

1. To dance in this way.

• Douglas Harper (2001–2023), “limbo”, in Online Etymology Dictionary.
• Webster's Seventh New Collegiate Dictionary, Springfield, Massachusetts, G.&C. Merriam Co., 1967
• 1873, John Camden Hotten, The Slang Dictionary

• Mobil

• IPA^(key): /ˈlɪm.boː/
• Hyphenation: lim‧bo

From Latin in limbō (“on the edge”).

limbo m or n

1. Limbo, the place where innocent souls barred from heaven exist.

   Synonyms: limbus, voorgeborchte

• Limbo

limbo m (plural limbo's, diminutive limbootje n)

1. Limbo, in-between place, state or condition of neglect or oblivion which results in an unresolved status, delay or deadlock.

• Limbo

Word of uncertain West Indian (possibly Jamaican) origin, recorded since 1956, probably an alteration of limber as it is a physical agility test.

limbo n (uncountable)

1. limbo, the low-dancing game below a bar

From a clipping of Limburger +‎ -o.

limbo m (plural limbo's, diminutive limbootje n)

1. (colloquial) A Limburger, a person from Limburg.

• Limbo

• Limbabwe

From English limbo.

• IPA^(key): /ˈlimbo/, [ˈlimbo̞]
• Rhymes: -imbo
• Syllabification^(key): lim‧bo

limbo

1. limbo (dance with bar that is lowered)

• (Classical) IPA^(key): /ˈlim.boː/, [ˈlʲɪmboː]
• (Ecclesiastical) IPA^(key): /ˈlim.bo/, [ˈlimbo]

limbō

1. dative/ablative singular of limbus

limbo

1. Alternative form of lymbo

limbo m (plural limbos)

1. (Roman Catholicism) limbo (place for innocent souls)
2. (figurative) limbo (state of neglect or oblivion)
3. (botany) blade (the flat part of a leaf or petal)

From Latin limbus.

• IPA^(key): /ˈlimbo/ [ˈlĩm.bo]
• Rhymes: -imbo
• Syllabification: lim‧bo

limbo m (plural limbos)

1. (Roman Catholic theology) limbo (the place where innocent souls exist)
2. limbo (an in-between place)

   limbo jurídico ― legal limbo

3. (botany) blade, edge
4. (astronomy) limb

• “limbo”, in Diccionario de la lengua española, Vigésima tercera edición, Real Academia Española, 2014