limbus

Lim"bo, Lim"bus, n. Etym: [L. limbus border, edge in limbo on the border. Cf. Limb border.] 1. (Scholastic Theol.) Defn: An extramundane region where certain classes of souls were supposed to await the judgment. As far from help as Limbo is from bliss. Shak. A Limbo large and broad, since called The Paradise of fools. Milton. Note: The limbus patrum was considered as a place for the souls of good men who lived before the coming of our Savior. The limbus infantium was said to be a similar place for the souls of unbaptized infants. To these was added, in the popular belief, the limbus fatuorum, or fool's paradise, regarded as a receptacle of all vanity and nonsense. 2. Hence: Any real or imaginary place of restraint or confinement; a prison; as, to put a man in limbo. 3. (Anat.) Defn: A border or margin; as, the limbus of the cornea. Etym: Jamaican E limba to bend, fr. E. limber (1950)]. Often performed at celebrations, such as weddings. (1950-1996)

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