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imp - What does it mean?

Definition of 'imp'

English

Noun

(en-noun)
  • (obsolete) A young shoot of a plant, tree etc.
  • * Sir Orfeo , 69:
    • Þai sett hem doun al þre / Vnder a fair ympe-tre.
  • (obsolete) A scion, offspring; a child.
  • * 1590 , Edmund Spenser, The Faerie Queene I.3:
    • And thou most dreaded impe of highest Ioue'', / Faire ''Venus sonne, [...] come to mine ayde [...].
  • * Fairfax
    • The tender imp was weaned.
  • A young or inferior devil; a malevolent supernatural creature, similar to a demon but smaller and less powerful.
  • * Beattie
    • to mingle in the clamorous fray of squabbling imps
  • A mischievous child.
  • * 1908 ,
    • I've left my young children to look after themselves, and a more mischievous and troublesome set of young imps doesn't exist...
  • (UK|dialect|obsolete) Something added to, or united with, another, to lengthen it out or repair it, such as an addition to a beehive; a feather inserted in a broken wing of a bird; or a length of twisted hair in a fishing line.

    • Synonyms

    * (mischievous child) brat, urchin, little dickens

    Derived terms

    * impish * implike

    Verb

    (en-verb)
  • (obsolete) To plant or engraft.
  • (archaic) To graft, implant; to set or fix.
  • *1596 , (Edmund Spenser), The Faerie Queene , IV.9:
  • *:That headlesse tyrants tronke he reard from ground, / And, having ympt the head to it agayne, / Upon his usuall beast it firmely bound, / And made it so to ride as it alive was found.
  • (falconry) To engraft feathers into a bird's wing.
    • "For, if I imp my wing on Thine" – Herbert (1633)
  • To eke out, strengthen, enlarge.

    • Anagrams

    * (l) * (l) * (l)