Crossword Dictionary

What's The Definition Of 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. As eager of the chase, the maid Beyond the forest's verdant limits strayed. --Pope. 2. The space or thing defined by limits. The archdeacon hath divided it Into three limits very equally. --Shak. 3. That which terminates a period of time; hence, the period itself; the full time or extent. The dateless limit of thy dear exile. --Shak. The limit of your lives is out. --Shak. 4. A restriction; a check; a curb; a hindrance. I prithee, give no limits to my tongue. --Shak. 5. (Logic & Metaph.) A determining feature; a distinguishing characteristic; a differentia. 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. {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.
\Lim"it\ (l[i^]m"[i^]t), v. t. [imp. & p. p. {Limited}; p. pr. & vb. n. {Limiting}.] [F. limiter, L. limitare, fr. limes, limitis, limit; prob. akin to limen threshold, E. eliminate; cf. L. limus sidelong.] To apply a limit to, or set a limit for; to terminate, circumscribe, or restrict, by a limit or limits; as, to limit the acreage of a crop; to limit the issue of paper money; to limit one's ambitions or aspirations; to limit the meaning of a word. {Limiting parallels} (Astron.), those parallels of latitude between which only an occultation of a star or planet by the moon, in a given case, can occur.
\Lim"it\, v. i. To beg, or to exercise functions, within a certain limited region; as, a limiting friar. [Obs.]