limn

[lim]

verb (used with object)

1. to represent in drawing or painting.

2. to portray in words; describe.

3. Obsolete.,  to illuminate (manuscripts).

limn

/ ˈlɪmnə, lɪm /

verb

1. to represent in drawing or painting

2. archaic,  to describe in words

3. an obsolete word for illuminate

Other Word Forms

• outlimn verb (used with object)
• unlimned adjective
• limner noun

Word History and Origins

Origin of limn¹

First recorded in 1400–50; late Middle English lymne, variant of Middle English luminen “to illuminate (manuscripts),” variant of enlumine, from Middle French enluminer, from Latin inlūmināre “to embellish,” literally, “light up”; illuminate

Word History and Origins

Origin of limn¹

C15: from Old French enluminer to illumine (a manuscript) from Latin inlūmināre to brighten, from lūmen light

Example Sentences

Riccardo Frizza’s fluid conducting drew out the score’s long bel canto lines and limned its propulsive rhythmic structure, and his flexible support of the singers made every aria and ensemble breathe and soar.

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Who better to limn out disgust and desolation now?

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Who better to help us limn out these feelings of disgust, rage and desolation right now?

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Picture Huck Finn’s Pap, and you have limned the archetypal Jacksonian Democrat.

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Joya Chatterji took home the prize for history with “Shadows at Noon: The South Asian Twentieth Century,” which limns the region’s trajectory from British colony to three complex, independent nations.

Read more on Los Angeles Times

Related Words

• delineate