limit English · revision 3803

+ {{infobox|confidence=established|formation=borrowing|attested=c. 1375|origins=la līmes}}

+

+ ==Pronunciation==

+ * IPA: /ˈlɪm.ɪt/^(Roach et al. 2011)

+

+ ==Etymology==

+ The noun is [[inh|enm|limite]],^(MWU 2024) [[bor|fro|limite|t=a boundary]],^(Etymonline)^(Barnhart 1988) from [[la|līmes|t=a boundary, border, embankment between fields]] (stem līmit-),^(Etymonline)^(Barnhart 1988)^(Hoad 1986) probably related to [[m|la|līmen|t=threshold]] and possibly to [[m|la|līmus|t=transverse, oblique]], which is of uncertain origin.^(Etymonline)^(Barnhart 1988) The verb is [[inh|enm|limiten]],^(MWU 2024) from Old French limiter “to mark a boundary, restrict, specify”,^(Etymonline)^(Barnhart 1988) from [[m|la|līmitāre|t=to bound, limit, fix]], from līmes.^(Etymonline)^(MWU 2024) It is related to [[limitation]], [[limen]] and [[eliminate]].^(Barnhart 1988)

+

+ ==Earliest recorded meaning==

+ A boundary or frontier: about 1375 in the OED,^(OED 1989) about 1400 in Etymonline.^(Etymonline) Barnhart's first record is a legal limit on power, in Wycliffe (1384).^(Barnhart 1988)

+

+ ==Semantic evolution==

+ It was first used of territory, and the general sense, a point where something ends, as in a limit to one's patience, is from the early 15th century (1413).^(Etymonline)^(Barnhart 1988) The verb, “to set limits to, restrict” and “to prescribe, fix, assign”, is from the late 14th century,^(Etymonline) and Chaucer used it about 1390.^(Barnhart 1988) A friar's ''limitation'' was the district allotted for begging, and ''to limit'' meant “to beg within set bounds” (1577), a back-formation from ''limiter''.^(OED 1989)^(Barnhart 1988) In mathematics the limit is from the early 18th century,^(OED 1989) and in commerce, as a customer's credit limit, from 1866.^(OED 1989) The colloquial ''the limit'', “the very extreme, the greatest degree imaginable”, is from 1904.^(Etymonline)

+

+ ==Timeline==

+ * c. 1375 – a boundary.^(OED 1989)

+ * 1384 – a legal limit on power.^(Barnhart 1988)

+ * late 14th century – verb, to restrict.^(Etymonline)

+ * 1413 – a point where something ends.^(Barnhart 1988)

+ * 1577 – to beg within limits.^(OED 1989)

+ * 1866 – in commerce.^(OED 1989)

+ * 1904 – ''the limit'', the extreme.^(Etymonline)

+

+ ==Modern meaning==

+ ===Noun===

+ # The point, edge or line beyond which something cannot or may not go.^(AHD)^(MW Collegiate)

+ # A boundary, or in the plural the area within it.^(AHD)^(MW Collegiate)

+ # Something that restrains or confines.^(AHD)^(MW Collegiate)

+ # The greatest or least amount allowed or possible: ''a speed limit''.^(AHD)^(MW Collegiate)

+ # In mathematics, the value that a [[function]] or sequence approaches.^(AHD)^(MW Collegiate)

+

+ ===Verb===

+ # To keep within bounds; to [[restrict]].^(AHD)^(MW Collegiate)

+ # To fix definitely; to specify.^(AHD)^(MW Collegiate)

+

+ ==Word family==

+ * [[limitable]]

+ * [[limitless]]

+ * [[limitlessly]]

+ * [[limitlessness]]

+ * [[limiter]]

+ * [[limitableness]]

+ * [[lintel]]

+ * [[overlimit]]

+

+ ==Related words==

+ * [[limitation]]

+ * [[limen]]

+ * [[eliminate]]

+ * [[sublime]]

+ * [[subliminal]]

+

+ ==Usage notes==

+ The American Heritage distinguishes limit, which sets a maximum, from restrict, confine and circumscribe.^(AHD)

+

+ ==References==

+ {{reflist}}