Monday Word: Limn
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1word1daylimn [lim]
verb:
1. to draw or paint on a surface
2. to outline in clear sharp detail
3. to describe
4. to illuminate manuscripts
examples:
It is probably a bit too harsh to call those upset by The Baltimore Sun's recent use of the word limn in a headline word-haters, but I assume they'd be even more offended by the fancy word misologists. Boston Globe Ideas section, Erin McKean, 2010
She lay nude atop the featherbed, the soft curves of her young body limned in the faint glow from the hearth.
A Clash of Kings, George R.R. Martin
Look when a painter would surpass the life / In limning out a well-proportioned steed.... William Shakespeare, "Venus and Adonis"
Now light /sits in chairs, /lims / the wooden / filigree / milled to indicate / leisure. Rae Armantrout, "Lasting"
origins:
Limn traces to the Anglo-French verb aluminer and ultimately to the Latin illuminare, which means "to illuminate." Its use as an English verb dates from the days of Middle English; at first, limn referred to the action of illuminating (that is, decorating) medieval manuscripts with gold, silver, or brilliant colors.
verb:
1. to draw or paint on a surface
2. to outline in clear sharp detail
3. to describe
4. to illuminate manuscripts
examples:
It is probably a bit too harsh to call those upset by The Baltimore Sun's recent use of the word limn in a headline word-haters, but I assume they'd be even more offended by the fancy word misologists. Boston Globe Ideas section, Erin McKean, 2010
She lay nude atop the featherbed, the soft curves of her young body limned in the faint glow from the hearth.
A Clash of Kings, George R.R. Martin
Look when a painter would surpass the life / In limning out a well-proportioned steed.... William Shakespeare, "Venus and Adonis"
Now light /sits in chairs, /lims / the wooden / filigree / milled to indicate / leisure. Rae Armantrout, "Lasting"
origins:
Limn traces to the Anglo-French verb aluminer and ultimately to the Latin illuminare, which means "to illuminate." Its use as an English verb dates from the days of Middle English; at first, limn referred to the action of illuminating (that is, decorating) medieval manuscripts with gold, silver, or brilliant colors.
