Words / B2

LIM/lɪm/

A limb is an arm, a leg, or a bird’s wing; also a large tree branch: an injured limb; out on a limb (isolated, risky). Arm/leg are everyday; branch is the tree twin. Label the limb before you discuss shock. Mix-up: limp is to walk unevenly; limbo is an uncertain wait. Do not call a finger a limb in biology.

Meaning

An arm, a leg, or a bird’s wing; also a large branch of a tree.

Examples

• “Label the injured limb on the first-aid diagram before you discuss shock.”
• “The critic went out on a limb, which is the idiom for a risky stance.”

Good to know

an upper / lower limb; a tree limb; out on a limb. Trap: limp / limbo. Biology, first aid, and PE. Arm, leg, wing, or branch — not a finger.

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