imp
Language: English
Part of speech: verb
Pronunciation: ipa: /ɪmp/
rhymes: -ɪmp
Forms: form: imps
form: imping
form: imped
form: imped
Etymology: From Middle English impen, ympen (“to plant; (figuratively) to bury; to graft; to add to, insert, put into, set in; to mend (a falcon’s feather) by attaching a new feather on to the broken stump”), from Old English impian, ġeimpian (“to graft”), from Proto-West Germanic *impōn (“to graft”), from Vulgar Latin *imputō (“to graft”), from Ancient Greek ἔμφῠτος (émphŭtos, “implanted; planted”), from ἐμφῠ́ω (emphŭ́ō, “to implant”, from ἐν- (en-, prefix meaning ‘in’) + φῠ́ω (phŭ́ō, “to bring forth, produce; to grow”, ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *bʰuH- (“to appear; to become; to grow”))) + -τος (-tos).
Senses: glosses: To engraft or plant (a plant or part of one, a sapling, etc.).
examples: text: That headleſſe tyrants tronke he reard from ground, / And, having ympt the head to it agayne, / Vpon his vſuall beaſt it firmely bound, / And made it ſo to ride, as it aliue was found.
ref: 1596, Edmund Spenser, “Book IV, Canto IX”, in The Faerie Queene. […], part II (books IV–VI), London: […] [Richard Field] for William Ponsonby, →OCLC, stanza 4, page 128:
glosses: To graft or implant (something other than a plant); to fix or set (something) in.
examples: text: I have known feathers so imped that the eye could not discern the place of juncture, and it was difficult even to discover it by passing the thumb-nail down the shaft of the imped feather.
ref: 1900, E[dward] B[lair] Michell, “Accidents and Maladies”, in The Art and Practice of Hawking, London: Methuen & Co. […], →OCLC, page 229:
text: Bird rehabilitators borrow a trick from falconry with the age-old process of imping flight feathers on to a damaged bird.
ref: 2004, Roseann Tomko, Illinois Audubon, Wayne, Ill.: Illinois Audubon Society, →ISSN, →OCLC, page 19, column 1:
text: [page 246, column 1] Feather damage is a serious problem for any bird. […] Repairing or imping broken feathers is a very good option in these cases and may save months or even a year in captivity. […] [page 250, column 1] Note that a feather can usually only be imped once since it is very difficult or impossible to remove and then replace an imping needle from within a feather shaft after it has been glued in place.
ref: 2016, David E. Scott, “Feathers and Aging”, in Raptor Medicine, Surgery and Rehabilitation, 2nd edition, Wallingford, Oxfordshire; Boston, Mass.: CABI, →ISBN, pages 246 and 250:
topics: biology
falconry
hobbies
hunting
lifestyle
medicine
natural-sciences
pathology
sciences
veterinary
zoology
glosses: To engraft (a feather) on to a broken feather in a bird's wing or tail to repair it; to engraft (feathers) on to a bird, or a bird's wing or tail.
examples: text: With thee / Let me combine, / And feel this day thy victorie: / For, if I imp my wing on thine, / Affliction ſhall advance the flight in me.
ref: [1633], George Herbert, “Easter Wings”, in [Nicholas Ferrar], editor, The Temple. Sacred Poems, and Private Ejaculations, Cambridge, Cambridgeshire: […] Thomas Buck and Roger Daniel; and are to be sold by Francis Green, […], →OCLC, page 35:
glosses: To provide (someone or something) with wings, hence enabling them or it to soar.
raw_tags: from sense 3
glosses: To add to or unite an object with (something) to lengthen the latter out or repair it; to eke out, enlarge, strengthen.
Derived terms: imp tree