1785. Grose, Vulg. Tongue, s.v. Limbs.
1859. Matsell, Vocabulum, s.v.
Verb. (common).—To cheat.
1878. Hatton, Cruel London, Bk. ii. ch. v. ‘They have had me, bless
you,’ said Bragford, ‘the men who have limbed you and cursed the
hand that fed them.’
Limb of the Law, subs. phr. (old).—A lawyer or lawyer’s clerk. Also
Limb.
1762. Smollett, Sir L. Greaves, I. ii. Then fixing his eyes upon
Ferret, he proceeded—‘An’t you a limb of the law, friend?’
1770. Foote, Lame Lover, iii. Sir Luke. Well said, my young limb of
the law.
1785. Grose, Vulg. Tongue, s.v.
1786–1805. Horne Tooke, Div. of Purley, ii. ch. 4. Limb is from the
A.S. verb Limpian, pertinere.... ‘Limb of the Body, Limb of the
law,’ etc.
1818–24. Egan, Boxiana, iii. 210. Jack and his pal, a limb of the
law, were screwed up the whole of the darkey in the compter.
1836. Dickens, Pickwick, xliii. p. 377. ‘Now, Sammy, I know a
gen’l’m’n here, as’ll do the rest o’ the bisness for us, in no
time—a limb o’ the law, Sammy, as has got brains like the frogs,
dispersed all over his body ... a friend of the Lord
Chancellorship’s, Sammy.’
1889. Cassell’s Saturday Journal, 9 Feb., p. 471. That good-looking
limb of the law who went wild over you.
To mingle limbs, verb. phr. (old).—To copulate.
1629. Davenant, Albovine, iv. I’st fit I proffer her to mingle
limbs?
Limbo, subs. (old).—1. A prison; a place of confinement. [From limbus
patrum = purgatory]. See Cage and Slowed.
1553. Lindsay, The Dreme [Laing (1879), i. 14. 360]. That was the
Lymbe in the quhilk did remaine.
1592. Greene, Quip, in Works, xi. 253. That reprobate is the
vserers executioner, to bring such gentlemen to Limbo, as he hath
overthrowne with his base brocage.
1653. Brome, Damoiselle, iii. 1. Had I raked limbo as I did the
compter.
1664. Etherege, Comical Revenge, v. 4, in Wks. (1704), 78. Sir
Fred. No consideration; dispatch, or to limbo. Whead. Was there
ever such a dilemma? I shall rot in prison.
1785. Grose, Vulg. Tongue, s.v. Limbo.
1796. J. G. Holman, Abroad & at Home, ii. 3. Har. Captain O’Neill,
my friend, Jack Flourish, is a very whimsical fellow. If he had
been out of limbo, you would have seen him earlier.
1823. Moncrieff, Tom & Jerry, iii. 5. Never desert an old pal in
limbo, Bob.
1836. Marryat, Japhet, lxviii. Who would soon have found out that I
had two legs, and have put me into limbo as an impostor.
1877. Five Years’ Penal Servitude, iv. 263. It was a heartless,
cruel robbery on his part, and had brought ill-luck on him ever
since. Before that occurred he had never been in limbo.