lim|bo

lim|bo «LIHM boh», noun.

1. Often, Limbo. (in Roman Catholic theology) a region for souls of people who die unbaptized but do not deserve the punishment of sinners. The souls of righteous people who died before the coming of Christ were kept in limbo until after the Resurrection.

2. Figurative. a place for people and things forgotten, cast aside, or out of date: »

The belief that the earth is flat belongs to the limbo of outworn ideas. Vast tracts of land will go into a kind of limbo which may or may not mean permanent socialization (Wall Street Journal).

3. Figurative. prison; jail; confinement: »

I should be better satisfied if you were in limbo, with a rope about your neck, and a comfortable bird's-eye prospect to the gallows (William Godwin).

4. a West Indian calypso dance in which each participant dances his way under a rod held up horizontally, bending backward to avoid touching the rod as it is progressively lowered: »

And when the limbo dancers perform their dazzling gyrations and move their incredibly supple bodies under the low, flaming pole, you will gasp with admiration and excitement (New Yorker).

╂[< Latin (in) limbō (on) the edge, ablative of limbus. See etym. of doublets limb² (Cf. ↑limb), limbus. (Cf. ↑limbus)]