limn
/lɪm/
Word Rarity
Very rare
Frequency: Zipf frequency 1.42 in modern English
6
Scrabble Score
4
Letters
1
Syllables
4
Unique Chars
Meaning
verb
To illuminate, as a manuscript; to decorate with gold or some other bright colour.
Obsolete; Transitive verb
Example Sentences
- "Who then to frail Mortality ſhall truſt, / But limns in Water, or but writes in Duſt."
- "Then the Painter, according to the pattern of ſome living thing, portraieth [draweth out] the picture groſly; afterward he reſembleth it to the life, and with his pencil limneth it with different painting colors."
- "Read books which are in french and Latin, for so you may retain and increase your knowledge in Latin: some times draw and limn and practise perspective."
- "Thou limnest well, / Were I to paint, I should shew you happy."
- "This cupboard, Holy of Holies, held the cloud / Of his soul writ and limned; […]"
- "[S]he laughs—in golden tones; she sleeps—like a fragrant lily; she dresses—limning her eyebrows like those of the silkworm moth."
Etymology
From Middle English limnen, limyne, lymm, lymn, lymne (“to illuminate (a manuscript)”), a variant of luminen (“to illuminate (a manuscript)”), short form of enluminen (“to shed light on, illuminate; to enlighten; to make bright or clear; to give colour to; to illuminate (a manuscript); to depict, describe; to adorn or embellish with figures of speech or poetry; to make famous, glorious, or illustrious”), from Old French enluminer (“to brighten, light up; to give colour to; to illuminate (a manuscript)”), from Latin illūminō (“to brighten, light up; to adorn; to make conspicuous”), from il- (a variant of in- (prefix meaning ‘in, inside’)) + lūminō (“to brighten, illuminate; to reveal”) (from lūmen (“light; (poetic) brightness”) (from Proto-Indo-European *lewk- (“bright; to shine; to see”)) + -ō (suffix forming regular first-conjugation verbs)).
Origin
Word Breakdown
Regional Pronunciation
- American English: /lɪm/
- British English: /lɪm/