# limbo
## English
### Pronunciation

* (Received Pronunciation) IPA: /ˈlɪmbəʊ/
* Audio (Southern England):(file)
* (General American) IPA: /ˈlɪmboʊ/
* (Caribbean) IPA: /ˈlɪmboː/
* Rhymes: -ɪmbəʊ
* Hyphenation: lim‧bo

### Etymology 1

The noun is derived from Middle English limbo, lymbo (“place where innocent souls exist temporarily until they can enter heaven”), from Latin limbō, the ablative singular of limbus (“border, edge; hem; fringe, tassel”) (notably in expressions like in limbō (“in limbo”) and e limbō (“out of limbo”)); further etymology uncertain, possibly from Proto-Indo-European *lemb- (“to hang limply or loosely”), from Proto-Indo-European *leb- (“to hang down loosely (?)”). Doublet of limp.
The verb is derived from the noun.

#### Noun

limbo (countable and uncountable, plural limbos or limboes)
* (Roman Catholicism, uncountable) A speculation, thought possibly to be on the edge of the bottomless pit of Hell, where the souls of innocent deceased people might exist temporarily until they can enter heaven, specifically those of the saints who died before the advent of Jesus Christ (who occupy the limbo patrum or limbo of the patriarchs or fathers) and those of unbaptized infants (who occupy the limbo infantum or limbo of the infants); (countable) the possible place where each category of souls might exist, regarded separately. [from 15th c.]
** 1528 October 12 (Gregorian calendar), William Tyndale, “William Tyndale other wise Called William Hychins vnto the Reader”, in The Obediẽce of a Christen Man […], [Antwerp]: [Johannes Hoochstraten], →OCLC, folio xix, recto:Of vvhat texte thou proveſt hell / vvill a nother prove purgatory / a nother lymbo patrum / and a nother the aſſumpcion of oure ladi: And a nother ſhall prove of the ſame texte that an Ape hath a tayle.
** c. 1588–1593 (date written), [William Shakespeare], The Most Lamentable Romaine Tragedie of Titus Andronicus: […] (First Quarto), London: […] Iohn Danter, and are to be sold by Edward White & Thomas Millington, […], published 1594, →OCLC,:Oh vvhat a ſimpathie of vvoe is this, / As farre from helpe, as Lymbo is from bliſſe.
** 1605, [Thomas Heywood], If You Know Not Me, You Know No Bodie: Or, The Troubles of Queene Elizabeth, London: […] [Thomas Purfoot] for Nathaniel Butter, published 1606, →OCLC, signature D2, recto:VVith all our heart, fare-vvell, fare-vvell, / I am freed from Lymbo, to be ſent to hell.
** 1626 November 15 (date delivered; Gregorian calendar), John Donne, “The Third of My Prebend Sermons upon My Five Psalms. Sermon LXVII. Preached at St. Paul’s, November 5, 1626.”, in Henry Alford, editor, The Works of John Donne, D.D., […], volume III, London: John W[illiam] Parker, […], published 1839, →OCLC, page 183:And they who have multiplied hells unto us, and made more hells than God hath made, more by their two limboes, (one for fathers, another for children) and one purgatory, have yet made their new hells more of the nature of heaven than of hell.
** 1992, William R. LaFleur, “Jizō at the Crosswords”, in Liquid Life: Abortion and Buddhism in Japan, Princeton, N.J.: Princeton University Press, →ISBN, part 1 (Original Concepts), page 57:Limbo, or more exactly the notion of two different limbos within Christendom, was also an invention. Many medieval Christians had difficulty accepting the idea of eternal punishment meted out to two categories of persons who, on strictly technical grounds, were "outside" the Church and otherwise quite beyond the pale. The first category embraced wise and just people who died before the coming of Christ, and the second included all infants born within Christendom but, unfortunately, unbaptized at the time of their death.
* (by extension)
** (countable, uncountable) Chiefly preceded by in: any in-between place, or condition or state, of neglect or oblivion which results in deadlock, delay, or some other unresolved status. [from mid 17th c.]
    My passport application has been stuck in bureaucratic limbo for two weeks.
*** 1642, Tho[mas] Browne, “The First Part”, in Religio Medici. […], 4th edition, London: […] E. Cotes for Andrew Crook […], published 1656, →OCLC, section 54, page 115:It is hard to place thoſe ſoules in Hell vvhoſe vvorthy lives doe teach us vertue on earth; methinks amongſt thoſe many ſubdiviſions of hel, there might have been one Limbo left for theſe: […]
*** 1642 April, John Milton, An Apology for Smectymnuus; republished in A Complete Collection of the Historical, Political, and Miscellaneous Works of John Milton, […], volume I, Amsterdam [actually London: s.n.], 1698, →OCLC, page 178:Proceeding further, I am met vvith a vvhole ging of vvords and phraſes not mine, for he hath maim'd them, and like a ſlye depraver mangl'd them in this his vvicked Limbo, vvorſe then the ghoſt of Deiphobus appear'd to his friend Æneas.
*** 1644, John Milton, Areopagitica; a Speech of Mr. John Milton for the Liberty of Unlicenc’d Printing, to the Parlament of England, London: [s.n.], →OCLC, page 9:[T]hat myſterious iniquity provokt and troubl'd at the firſt entrance of Reformation, ſought out nevv limbo's and nevv hells vvherein they might include our Booke alſo vvithin the number of their damned.
*** 1667, John Milton, “Book III”, in Paradise Lost. […], London: […] [Samuel Simmons], and are to be sold by Peter Parker […]; [a]nd by Robert Boulter […]; [a]nd Matthias Walker, […], →OCLC; republished as Paradise Lost in Ten Books: […], London: Basil Montagu Pickering […], 1873, →OCLC, lines 489 and 492–496:[T]hen might ye ſee / […] / Indulgences, Diſpenſes, Pardons, Bulls, / The ſport of Winds: all theſe upwhirld aloft / Fly o're the backſide of the World farr off / Into a Limbo large and broad, ſince calld / The Paradiſe of Fools, […]
*** 1712 February 20 (Gregorian calendar), [Joseph Addison], “SATURDAY, February 9, 1711–1712”, in The Spectator, number 297; republished in Alexander Chalmers, editor, The Spectator; a New Edition, […], volume III, New York, N.Y.: D[aniel] Appleton & Company, 1853, →OCLC, page 481:[…] [John] Milton has interwoven in the texture of his fable, some particulars which do not seem to have probability enough for an epic poem, particularly in the actions which he ascribes to Sin and Death, and the picture he draws of the ‘Limbo of Vanity,’ with other passages in the second book.The spelling has been modernized.
*** 1831, Thomas Carlyle, “The World out of Clothes”, in Sartor Resartus: The Life and Opinions of Herr Teufelsdröckh. […], London: Chapman and Hall, […], →OCLC, 1st book, page 34:Society sails through the Infinitude on Cloth, as on a Faust's Mantle, or rather like the Sheet of clean and unclean beasts in the Apostle's Dream; and without such Sheet or Mantle, would sink to endless depths, or mount to inane limboes, and in either case be no more.
*** 1839 June 15 (date written), John Sterling, “Clifton”, in Thomas Carlyle, The Life of John Sterling, London: Chapman and Hall, […], published 1851, →OCLC, part II, page 241:As yet my books are lying as ghost books, in a limbo on the banks of a certain Bristolian Styx, humanly speaking, a Canal; […]
*** 1881 April 23, “Lord Beaconsfield and Homœpathy”, in George F[rederick] Shrady [Sr.], editor, The Medical Record: A Weekly Journal of Medicine and Surgery, volume 19, New York, N.Y.: William Wood & Co. […], →OCLC, page 466, column 1:Homœpathy, so-called, is an unutterable humbug, and is to be consigned to the eternal Limbos of the Unblessed—where, indeed, it is already for the most part gone.
*** 1896, Honoré de Balzac, translated by Ernest Dowson, La Fille aux Yeux d’Or [The Girl with the Golden Eyes], London: Leonard Smithers […], →OCLC, page 95:[U]rged beyond that line where the soul is mistress over herself, he lost himself in those delicious limboes, which the vulgar call so foolishly "the imaginary regions."
*** a. 1899 (date written), William Cowper Brann, “Talmage the Turgid”, in The Complete Works of Brann the Iconoclast, volume I, New York, N.Y.: The Brann Publishers, published 1919, page 200:His [Thomas De Witt Talmage's] so-called "sermons" are but fragmentary and usually ignorant allusions to things in general. He seldom or never encroaches upon the realms of science and philosophy, although he frequently attempts it, and evidently imagines that he is succeeding admirably, when he is but sloshing around, like a drunken comet that is chiefly tail, in inane limboes.
*** 1997, Joy Ann James, “Black Feminism: Liberation Limbos and Existence in Gray”, in Lewis R[icardo] Gordon, editor, Existence in Black: An Anthology of Black Existential Philosophy, New York, N.Y., London: Routledge, →ISBN, part IV (Black Existence and Black Liberation), page 216:Like unbaptized children and the non-Christian righteous, black feminisms have been relegated to an outer realm where, while not exactly punished for their sins, they are ghettoized for an alleged poor timing and inability to encounter the "larger paradigms" undergirding existence. Women from oppressed peoples routinely find themselves in liberation limbos.
*** 2021 May 5, Philip Haigh, “I Think We Need Better than This from the Rail Industry”, in Rail, number 930, Peterborough, Cambridgeshire: Bauer Media, →ISSN, →OCLC, page 51:But the railway is in limbo, paralysed by indecision. Let's have some clarity.
*** 2022 October 7, Jim Waterson, “Legal action by Doreen Lawrence and Prince Harry could mire Daily Mail for years”, in Katharine Viner, editor, The Guardian‎, London: Guardian News & Media, →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the original on 2023-03-14:The bigger worry for the Mail is that, if any of the claims are successful, it could open the door for other cases against the newspaper that could leave it in legal limbo for years.
** (slang, archaic, uncountable) Jail, prison; (countable) a jail cell or lockup. [from late 16th c.]
*** c. 1594 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Comedie of Errors”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act IV, scene ii], page 94, column 1:Adr[iana]. VVhere is thy Maſter Dromio? Is he vvell? / S. Dro. [Dromio of Syracuse] No, he's in Tartar limbo, vvorſe then hell: […] / S. Dro. I doe not knovv the matter, hee is reſted [i.e., arrested] on the caſe. / Adr. VVhat is he arreſted? tell me at vvhoſe ſuite?
*** 1613 (date written), William Shakespeare, [John Fletcher], “The Famous History of the Life of King Henry the Eight”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act V, scene iii], page 231, column 1:Theſe are the youths that thunder at a Playhouſe, and fight for bitten Apples, that no Audience but the tribulation of Tovver Hill, or the Limbes of Limehouſe, their deare Brothers are able to endure. I haue ſome of 'em in Limbo Patrum, and there they are like to dance theſe three dayes; beſides the running Banquet of tvvo Beadles, that is to come.
*** 1663 (indicated as 1664), [Samuel Butler], “The Second Part of Hudibras. Canto I.”, in Hudibras. The First and Second Parts. […], London: […] John Martyn and Henry Herringman, […], published 1678, →OCLC; republished in A[lfred] R[ayney] Waller, editor, Hudibras: Written in the Time of the Late Wars, Cambridge, Cambridgeshire: University Press, 1905, →OCLC, page 108:[O]n she went, / To find the Knight in Limbo pent: / And 'twas not long before she found / Him, and his stout Squire in the Pound; / Both coupled in Inchanted Tether, / By further Leg behind together: […]
*** 1796 February, Constantia [pseudonym; Judith Sargent Murray], “The Traveller Returned, Concluded”, in The Gleaner. A Miscellaneous Production. […], volume III, number LXXXIV, Boston, Mass.: […] I[saiah] Thomas and E[benezer] T. Andrews, […], →OCLC, act IV, scene iii, page 156:Patr[ick]. […] [S]hame burn my cheek! My maſter, d'ye ſee, had gotten into the limboes; […] / Major C[amden]. But vvhat do you mean by your maſter's being in the limboes, Patrick? / Patr. VVhy, Maſter Tipſtaff here—Isn't it Tipſtaff ye call him?—kidnapped him; that's all, Honey.
*** 1843 April, Thomas Carlyle, “The Abbot’s Troubles”, in Past and Present, American edition, Boston, Mass.: Charles C[offin] Little and James Brown, published 1843, →OCLC, book II (The Ancient Monk), page 100:Abbot Samson […] hurls out a bolt or two of excommunication: lo, one disobedient Monk sits in limbo, excommunicated, with foot-shackles on him, all day; and three more our Abbot has gyved 'with the lesser sentence, to strike fear into the others!'
*** 1881, Walter Besant, James Rice, “How the Doctor was at Home to His Friends”, in The Chaplain of the Fleet […], volume I, London: Chatto and Windus, […], →OCLC, part I (Within the Rules), page 217:The room was half full: there were, […] poets not yet in limbo; authors who were still able to pay for their lodgings; young fellows whose creditors were still forbearing; […]
*** 1894, Arthur [George Frederick] Griffiths, “Commonplace Criminals”, in Secrets of the Prison-house: Or Gaol Studies and Sketches […], volume II, London: Chapman and Hall, →OCLC, page 144:Blind Thaddeus O'Gorman was soon sent to limbo, safely secured in the police lock-up at Green Skipperton, whence he was removed next day to the nearest gaol, there to await trial at the next assize.
** (uncountable, obsolete) Synonym of Hades or Hell [from late 16th c.]
*** 1682, [Nahum Tate; John Dryden], The Second Part of Absalom and Achitophel. A Poem. […], 2nd edition, London: […] Jacob Tonson, […], →OCLC, page 4:Nor quite of future Povv'r himſelf bereft, / But Limbo's large for Unbelievers left.
** (uncountable, obsolete) Synonym of pawn (“the state of something being held as security for a loan, or as a pledge”)
*** 1693, [William] Congreve, The Old Batchelour, a Comedy. […], 2nd edition, London: […] Peter Buck, […], →OCLC, Act II, page 11:[…] I let him have all my ready Mony to redeem his great Svvord from Limbo— […]
* (countable, military, nautical, weaponry) A type of antisubmarine mortar installed on naval vessels.

##### Usage notes

* Although "limbo" was at one point a very commonly held belief among grassroots Catholics, it has never been an official part of Church teaching.

##### Alternative forms

* (weapon): Limbo

##### Derived terms

* development limbo
* limbolike
* limbo set

##### See also

* hell
* paradise
* purgatory
* valley of death

#### Verb

limbo (third-person singular simple present limbos, present participle limboing, simple past and past participle limboed)
* (transitive, rare) To place (someone or something) in an in-between place, or condition or state, of neglect or oblivion which results in deadlock, delay, or some other unresolved status.
** 1849, Herman Melville, “Wherein Babbalanja Broaches a Diabolical Theory, and, in His Own Person, Proves it”, in Mardi: And a Voyage Thither. […], volume I, New York, N.Y.: Harper & Brothers, […], →OCLC, page 364:[A]s your doctrine is exceedingly evil, by Yamjamma's theory it follows, that you must be proportionably bedeviled; and since it harms others, your devil is of the number of those whom it is best to limbo; and since he is one of those that can be limboed, limboed he shall be in you.
** 1988 October, Jack Womack, chapter 5, in Terraplane […], New York, N.Y.: Grove Press, →ISBN, page 102:"If a fellow of ours isn't uncovered we may be limboed here till—" Till when? Till we were born again? I wished not to wonder just then. "Whenever."
** 1992, Yusef Komunyakaa, “Blackberries”, in Magic City, Middletown, Conn.: Wesleyan University Press, →ISBN, page 27:An hour later, beside City Limits Road / I balanced, a gleaming can in each hand, / Limboed between worlds, repeating one dollar.

##### Translations
### Etymology 2

Origin uncertain; possibly an alteration of limber (“bendable, flexible, pliant”) with the ending of the word respelled to represent a Caribbean English pronunciation.
It is unclear whether the verb is derived from the noun, or the noun is derived from the verb; the noun is attested slightly earlier.

#### Noun

limbo (plural limbos)
* (dance, also attributively) A competitive dance originating from Trinidad and Tobago in which dancers take turns to cross under a horizontal bar while bending backwards. The bar is lowered with each round, and the competition is won by the dancer who passes under the bar in the lowest position without dislodging it or falling down.
** 1962 October, Jan Sheldon [pseudonym; Kal Mann], Billy Strange (lyrics and music), “Limbo Rock”, in Limbo Party, performed by Chubby Checker:Every limbo boy and girl / All around the limbo world / Gonna do the limbo rock / All around the limbo clock / Jack be limbo, Jack be quick / Jack go under limbo stick / All around the limbo clock / Hey, let's do the limbo rock
** 1992, Susan Farewell, “The United States Virgin Islands”, in Alan Tucker, editor, The Berlitz Travellers Guide to the Caribbean 1993, New York, N.Y., Oxford, Oxfordshire: Berlitz Publishing Company, →ISBN, →ISSN, page 140:At night steel-band and calypso shows liven up many of the island's larger hotels. If you're not up for watching limbos, bottle dancing, and fire eating, your best bet might be a leisurely dinner before settling down on chaise longues around your hotel's pool with a couple of fruity concoctions.
** 2016, Linda Parker Hamilton, “Games in the Outdoors”, in Camping Activity Book for Families; The Kid-tested Guide to Fun in the Outdoors, Guilford, Conn., Helena, Mont.: FalconGuides, Rowman & Littlefield, →ISBN, page 122, column 2:Limbo is a traditional popular dance contest that originated on the island of Trinidad. It got its name in the 1950s, but the limbo dates back to the 1800s in Trinidad. […] R&B singer-songwriter Chubby Checker, who popularized the Twist, also popularized the limbo dance and the phrase "How low can you go?" The world record for the lowest limbo dance is only 8.5 inches above the ground!

##### Translations
#### Verb

limbo (third-person singular simple present limbos, present participle limboing, simple past and past participle limboed) (intransitive)
* (dance) To dance the limbo (etymology 2, noun sense 1).
** 1967 November 24, “Miscellany: Stoop to Conquer”, in George P. Hunt, editor, Life, volume 63, number 21, Chicago, Ill., New York, N.Y.: Time Inc., →ISSN, →OCLC, page 124:Steve Becker was rolling around with the other skaters at the Pismo Beach, Calif. roller rink one day when it was announced that there would be a limbo contest. […] Steve had his friends set the bar lower and lower while he got flatter and flatter, until finally, at just over a foot and almost spread-eagled, he reached his limboing limit.A noun use, applied to passing under a horizontal bar on roller-skates.
** 1993 May–June, Kathleen Ring, “Coming Attractions”, in Snow Country: The Year-round Magazine of Skiing, Mountain Sports & Living, volume 6, number 3, Trumbull, Conn.: NYT Sports/Leisure Magazines, →ISSN, →OCLC, page 68, column 3:The race begins at Alyeska Resort with an alpine skiing leg. It then proceeds through a downhill sprint, an in-line skate, a mountain bike ride, a 5K run, a wheelchair obstacle course and, if all that wasn't enough, a three-legged race in which participants chug a beer or soda before limboing under the tape.
** 2016, Linda Parker Hamilton, “Games in the Outdoors”, in Camping Activity Book for Families; The Kid-tested Guide to Fun in the Outdoors, Guilford, Conn., Helena, Mont.: FalconGuides, Rowman & Littlefield, →ISBN, page 122:After each player goes under once, the bar is lowered about an inch. Players keep limboing under the limbo stick as it gets lower and lower. If you touch the stick with any part of your body, you're out. The last person left is the winner.
** 2020 January 28, Giselle Renarde, “Limbo Rock (Chubby Checker)”, in Play It on My Radio: A Diary in Music, [Los Gatos, Calif.]: [Smashwords], published 2021, →ISBN, page 171:Anyway, one year we had a party in our unfinished basement. All I remember about it is that we limboed on bare concrete. Good times!
* (by extension, also figuratively) Often followed by under: to pass under something, especially while bending backwards.
** 1990 March 26, “Low Motion: Technology Firms Dip, Pivot as Investors Drum Up Profits”, in Bill Laberis, editor, Computerworld: The Newsweekly of Information Systems Management, volume XXIV, number 13, Framingham, Mass.: CW Communications, →ISSN, →OCLC, page 7, column 3:How low can you go? Technology stocks limboed lower and lower last week as investors danced to the profit-taking beat.
** 1994, Lois Ruby, “No Nancy Drews”, in Steal Away Home (Aladdin Historical Fiction), New York, N.Y.: Aladdin Paperbacks, published January 1999, →ISBN, page 41:Ahn slept over on Friday night, and as soon as the parents were asleep, Dana and Ahn limboed under the criss-cross barriers into the secret chamber.
** 1995 November, Jeff Rovin with created by Tom Clancy and Steve Pieczenik, “Tuesday, 12:26 A.M., Helsinki”, in Tom Clancy’s Op-Center: Mirror Image (Tom Clancy’s Op-Center), New York, N.Y.: Berkley Books, →ISBN:[T]he Private […] limboed to his seat [in a mini-submarine], thrusting his chest up and twisting to the right, one arm behind him, steadying himself on the chair as he slid in.
** 2011 May 13, David Lochbaum (witness), “Statement of Mr. David Lochbaum, Director, Nuclear Safety Project, Union of Concerned Scientists”, in Nuclear Energy Risk Management: Hearing before the Subcommittee on Investigations and Oversight, Joint with the Subcommittee on Energy and Environment, Committee on Science, Space, and Technology, House of Representatives, One Hundred Twelfth Congress, First Session […] (Serial No. 122-18), Washington, D.C.: U.S. Government Printing Office, →ISBN, page 199:[W]e find that the NRC does a very good job at setting the safety bar at the right height. […] They don't do a very good job of enforcing those regulations. Too many plant owners are limboing beneath the safety bar for too long, putting Americans at higher risk, and additionally driving the costs of nuclear power upwards inexplicably.
** 2012 September 24, Anthony Linick, “June 2007”, in A Doggy Day in London Town: Life among the Dog People of Paddington Rec, volume IV, Bloomington, Ind.: AuthorHouse, →ISBN, page 27:Daisy-Mae [a dog] also distinguishes herself by limboing under the picnic ground fence. I have to go back in order to use the gate into this spot, where I can retrieve the little madam.

##### Translations
### Notes

* ↑ From the collection of the Pinacoteca Nazionale in Siena, Italy.

### References

* ↑ “limbō, n.”, in MED Online, Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Michigan, 2007.
* ↑ “limbo, n.$^1$”, in OED Online ⁠, Oxford: Oxford University Press, March 2023; “limbo$^1$, n.”, in Lexico, Dictionary.com; Oxford University Press, 2019–2022.
* 1 2 “limbo, n.$^3$”, in OED Online ⁠, Oxford: Oxford University Press, March 2022; “limbo$^2$, n.”, in Lexico, Dictionary.com; Oxford University Press, 2019–2022.
* ↑ “limbo, v.”, in OED Online ⁠, Oxford: Oxford University Press, March 2022; “limbo$^2$, v.”, in Lexico, Dictionary.com; Oxford University Press, 2019–2022.

### Further reading

* limbo on Wikipedia.Wikipedia
* limbo (dance) on Wikipedia.Wikipedia
* limbo (weapon) on Wikipedia.Wikipedia
* limbo (disambiguation) on Wikipedia.Wikipedia
* J[ohn] C[amden] H[otten] (1864) “LIMBO”, in The Slang Dictionary; […], London: John Camden Hotten, […], →OCLC, page 171: “a prison”
* Webster's Seventh New Collegiate Dictionary, Springfield, Massachusetts, G.&C. Merriam Co., 1967
* Douglas Harper (2001–2025) “limbo”, in Online Etymology Dictionary.

### Anagrams

* Mobil

## Dutch
### Pronunciation

* IPA: /ˈlɪm.boː/
* Hyphenation: lim‧bo

### Etymology 1

From Latin in limbō (“on the edge”).

#### Proper noun

limbo m or n
* Limbo, the place where innocent souls barred from heaven exist
    Synonyms: limbus, voorgeborchte

##### Alternative forms

* Limbo

#### Noun

limbo m (plural limbo's, diminutive limbootje n)
* Limbo, in-between place, state or condition of neglect or oblivion which results in an unresolved status, delay or deadlock

##### Alternative forms

* Limbo

### Etymology 2

Word of uncertain West Indian (possibly Jamaican) origin, recorded since 1956, probably an alteration of limber as it is a physical agility test.

#### Noun

limbo n (uncountable)
* limbo, the low-dancing game below a bar

### Etymology 3

From a clipping of Limburger +‎ -o.

#### Noun

limbo m (plural limbo's, diminutive limbootje n)
* (colloquial) a Limburger, a person from Limburg

##### Alternative forms

* Limbo

##### See also

* Limbabwe

## Finnish
### Etymology

From English limbo.

### Pronunciation

* IPA: /ˈlimbo/, [ˈlimbo̞]
* Rhymes: -imbo
* Hyphenation: lim‧bo

### Noun

limbo
* limbo (dance with bar that is lowered)

#### Declension

Possessive forms of limbo (Kotus type 1/valo, no gradation) :
first-person singular possessor
singular
plural
nominative
limboni
limboni
accusative
nom.
limboni
limboni
gen.
limboni
genitive
limboni
limbojeni
partitive
limboani
limbojani
inessive
limbossani
limboissani
elative
limbostani
limboistani
illative
limbooni
limboihini
adessive
limbollani
limboillani
ablative
limboltani
limboiltani
allative
limbolleni
limboilleni
essive
limbonani
limboinani
translative
limbokseni
limboikseni
abessive
limbottani
limboittani
instructive
comitative
—limboineni
second-person singular possessor
singular
plural
nominative
limbosi
limbosi
accusative
nom.
limbosi
limbosi
gen.
limbosi
genitive
limbosi
limbojesi
partitive
limboasi
limbojasi
inessive
limbossasi
limboissasi
elative
limbostasi
limboistasi
illative
limboosi
limboihisi
adessive
limbollasi
limboillasi
ablative
limboltasi
limboiltasi
allative
limbollesi
limboillesi
essive
limbonasi
limboinasi
translative
limboksesi
limboiksesi
abessive
limbottasi
limboittasi
instructive
comitative
—limboinesi
first-person plural possessor
singular
plural
nominative
limbomme
limbomme
accusative
nom.
limbomme
limbomme
gen.
limbomme
genitive
limbomme
limbojemme
partitive
limboamme
limbojamme
inessive
limbossamme
limboissamme
elative
limbostamme
limboistamme
illative
limboomme
limboihimme
adessive
limbollamme
limboillamme
ablative
limboltamme
limboiltamme
allative
limbollemme
limboillemme
essive
limbonamme
limboinamme
translative
limboksemme
limboiksemme
abessive
limbottamme
limboittamme
instructive
comitative
—limboinemme
second-person plural possessor
singular
plural
nominative
limbonne
limbonne
accusative
nom.
limbonne
limbonne
gen.
limbonne
genitive
limbonne
limbojenne
partitive
limboanne
limbojanne
inessive
limbossanne
limboissanne
elative
limbostanne
limboistanne
illative
limboonne
limboihinne
adessive
limbollanne
limboillanne
ablative
limboltanne
limboiltanne
allative
limbollenne
limboillenne
essive
limbonanne
limboinanne
translative
limboksenne
limboiksenne
abessive
limbottanne
limboittanne
instructive
comitative
—limboinenne
third-person possessor
singular
plural
nominative
limbonsa
limbonsa
accusative
nom.
limbonsa
limbonsa
gen.
limbonsa
genitive
limbonsa
limbojensa
partitive
limboaan limboansa
limbojaan limbojansa
inessive
limbossaan limbossansa
limboissaan limboissansa
elative
limbostaan limbostansa
limboistaan limboistansa
illative
limboonsa
limboihinsa
adessive
limbollaan limbollansa
limboillaan limboillansa
ablative
limboltaan limboltansa
limboiltaan limboiltansa
allative
limbolleen limbollensa
limboilleen limboillensa
essive
limbonaan limbonansa
limboinaan limboinansa
translative
limbokseen limboksensa
limboikseen limboiksensa
abessive
limbottaan limbottansa
limboittaan limboittansa
instructive
comitative
—limboineen limboinensa :

#### Derived terms

* limboilla

### Further reading

* “limbo”, in Kielitoimiston sanakirja [Dictionary of Contemporary Finnish]‎ (in Finnish) (online dictionary, continuously updated), Kotimaisten kielten keskuksen verkkojulkaisuja 35, Helsinki: Kotimaisten kielten tutkimuskeskus (Institute for the Languages of Finland), 2004–, retrieved 2023-07-03

## Latin
### Pronunciation

* (Classical Latin) IPA: /ˈlim.boː/, [ˈlʲɪmboː]
* (modern Italianate Ecclesiastical) IPA: /ˈlim.bo/, [ˈlimbo]

### Noun

limbō
* dative/ablative singular of limbus

## Middle English
### Noun

limbo
* Alternative form of lymbo

## Portuguese
### Pronunciation

* IPA: /ˈlĩ.bu/
* Hyphenation: lim‧bo

### Noun

limbo m (plural limbos)
* (Roman Catholicism) limbo (place for innocent souls)
* (figurative) limbo (state of neglect or oblivion)
* (botany) blade (the flat part of a leaf or petal)

## Spanish
### Etymology

From Latin limbus.

### Pronunciation

* IPA: /ˈlimbo/ [ˈlĩm.bo]
* Rhymes: -imbo
* Syllabification: lim‧bo

### Noun

limbo m (plural limbos)
* (Roman Catholic theology) limbo (the place where innocent souls exist)
* limbo (an in-between place)
    limbo jurídico ― legal limbo
* (botany) blade, edge
* (astronomy) limb

### Further reading

* “limbo”, in Diccionario de la lengua española [Dictionary of the Spanish Language] (in Spanish), online version 23.8, Royal Spanish Academy [Spanish: Real Academia Española], 2024 December 10