Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • noun A distinctive border or edge, such as the junction between the cornea and sclera of the eyeball.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • noun Same as limbo, 1.
  • noun Pl. limbi (-bī). In anatomy, a border.
  • noun In conchology, the circumference of the valves of a bivalve shell from the disk to the border or margin.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • noun medicine, biology A border of an anatomical part, such as the edge of the cornea.

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • noun a border or edge of any of various body parts distinguished by color or structure

Etymologies

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition

[Latin, border.]

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

From Latin limbus ("edge, border")

Support

Help support Wordnik (and make this page ad-free) by adopting the word limbus.

Examples

  • The word comes from the Latin word "limbus", meaning the edge.

    Pope Considers Abolishing Limbo | Impact Lab 2006

  • The real action takes place when the image is downloaded to the computer: sophisticated software isolates the circular area around the iris called the limbus, where a film of tear fluid over the cornea reflects the world like a clear midsummer lake.

    MEET THE EYE CAM 2007

  • In the New Testament, Christ refers by various names and figures to the place or state which Catholic tradition has agreed to call the limbus patrum.

    The Catholic Encyclopedia, Volume 9: Laprade-Mass Liturgy 1840-1916 1913

  • The stem cells of the cornea, located in an area called limbus, multiplied rapidly in the gel.

    The Times of India 2010

  • The procedure involved extracting healthy stem cells from the limbus, which is located between the colored and white part of the eye.

    WebMD Health 2010

  • The research led by Professor Yann Barrandon, who holds a joint appointment at EPFL and the Lausanne University Hospitals (CHUV), challenges this prevailing opinion that the limbus is the only place where corneal stem cells reside.

    Health News from Medical News Today 2008

  • The research led by Professor Yann Barrandon, who holds a joint appointment at EPFL and the Lausanne University Hospitals (CHUV), challenges this prevailing opinion that the limbus is the only place where corneal stem cells reside.

    innovations-report 2008

  • The research led by Professor Yann Barrandon, who holds a joint appointment at EPFL and the Lausanne University Hospitals (CHUV), challenges this prevailing opinion that the limbus is the only place where corneal stem cells reside.

    Biosingularity 2008

  • The research led by Professor Yann Barrandon, who holds a joint appointment at EPFL and the Lausanne University Hospitals (CHUV), challenges this prevailing opinion that the limbus is the only place where corneal stem cells reside.

    Medlogs - Recent stories 2008

  • Since we have only the word border in Englifh, to exprefs the upper fpreading part, both in this, and the polypeta - lous corolla, it would perhaps be better to preferve the Latin terms limbus for the firft and lamina for the fecond.

    The language of botany : being a dictionary of the terms made use of in that science, principally by Linneus ... 1793

Comments

Log in or sign up to get involved in the conversation. It's quick and easy.