limb

/lɪm/

/lɪm/

Other forms: limbs

Willing to pay an arm and a leg for those World Series tickets? Then you're willing to give up two of your limbs for the season's biggest baseball games.

Arms, legs, wings, flippers — these are all examples of limbs. But we shouldn't leave out the trees. They've got plenty of large branches or limbs as well. In fact, when you expose yourself to potentially negative consequences in order to help someone else, it's called "going out on a limb" — like crawling out on a big tree branch. Not a flipper.

Definitions of limb

1. noun

   one of the jointed appendages of an animal used for locomotion or grasping: arm; leg; wing; flipper
   types:

   hind limb, hindlimb

   a posterior appendage such as a leg or the homologous structure in other animals

   forelimb

   the front limb (or the homologous structure in other animals, such as a flipper or wing)

   flipper

   the flat broad limb of aquatic animals specialized for swimming

   leg

   a human limb; commonly used to refer to a whole limb but technically only the part of the limb between the knee and ankle

   crus

   the leg from the knee to foot

   leg

   a structure in animals that is similar to a human leg and used for locomotion

   thigh

   the part of the leg between the hip and the knee

   arm

   a human limb; technically the part of the superior limb between the shoulder and the elbow but commonly used to refer to the whole superior limb

   cubitus

   the arm from the elbow to the fingertips

   forearm

   the part of the superior limb between the elbow and the wrist

   prehensor

   the anterior pair of legs of a centipede that are modified to seize prey and inject venom from the toxicognaths

   animal leg

   the leg of an animal

   hind leg

   the back limb of a quadruped

   foreleg

   the forelimb of a quadruped

   peg, pin, stick

   informal terms for the leg

   bandy leg, bandyleg, bow leg, bowleg, genu varum, tibia vara

   a leg bowed outward at the knee (or below the knee)

   shank's mare, shank's pony, shanks' mare, shanks' pony

   you own legs

   spindlelegs, spindleshanks

   long thin legs

   lap

   the upper side of the thighs of a seated person

   type of:

   appendage, extremity, member

   an external body part that projects from the body
2. noun

   any projection that is thought to resemble a human arm
   synonyms: arm, branch

   type of:

   projection

   any structure that branches out from a central support
3. noun

   any of the main branches arising from the trunk or a bough of a tree
   synonyms: tree branch

   types:

   stick

   a small thin branch of a tree

   bough

   any of the larger branches of a tree

   type of:

   branch

   a division of a stem, or secondary stem arising from the main stem of a plant
4. noun

   either of the two halves of a bow from handle to tip
   “the upper limb of the bow”

   type of:

   part, portion

   something less than the whole of a human artifact
5. noun

   (astronomy) the circumferential edge of the apparent disc of the sun or the moon or a planet
   type of:

   border, edge

   the boundary of a surface
6. noun

   the graduated arc that is attached to an instrument for measuring angles
   “the limb of the sextant”

   type of:

   arc

   a continuous portion of a circle