04 January 2010

limn

The almost unpronounceable limn just came to us from a crossword puzzle. The clue was "describe." I thought it might mean something like that but I had to look it up to be sure. A part of me thought it might have something to do with singing, but of course it's more to do with painting. Painting, singing... what's the difference.

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Limn
Limn Limn (l[i^]m), v. t. [imp. & p. p. Limned (l[i^]md); p.
pr. & vb. n. Limning (l[i^]m"n[i^]ng or l[i^]m"[i^]ng).]
[OE. limnen, fr. luminen, for enluminen, F. enluminer to
illuminate, to limn, LL. illuminare to paint. [root]122. See
Illuminate, Luminous.]
1. To draw or paint; especially, to represent in an artistic
way with pencil or brush.
[1913 Webster]

Let a painter carelessly limn out a million of
faces, and you shall find them all different. --Sir
T. Browne.
[1913 Webster]

2. Hence: To picture in words; to describe in graphic terms.
[PJC]

3. To illumine, as books or parchments, with ornamental
figures, letters, or borders.
[1913 Webster]

-- From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48

limn
v 1: trace the shape of [syn: delineate, outline]
2: make a portrait of; "Goya wanted to portray his mistress,
the Duchess of Alba" [syn: portray, depict]

-- From WordNet (r) 2.0

60 Moby Thesaurus words for "limn":
bring to life, cartoon, catch a likeness, chalk, character,
characterize, charcoal, chart, color, contour, copy, crayon,
crosshatch, dash off, daub, delineate, depict, describe, design,
diagram, doodle, draft, draw, evoke, express, give words to, hatch,
hit off, image, interpret, map, notate, outline, paint,
paint a picture, pencil, picture, picturize, portray, print,
profile, register, render, represent, rub, schematize, scratch,
scumble, set forth, shade, silhouette, sketch, stencil, symbolize,
take a rubbing, tint, trace, trace out, trace over, write



-- From Moby Thesaurus II by Grady Ward, 1.0

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