4. A restriction; a check; a curb; a hindrance. I prithee, give no limits to my tongue. Shak.
5. (Logic & Metaph.)
Defn: A determining feature; a distinguishing characteristic a differentia.
6. (Math.)
Defn: A determinate quantity, to which a variable one continually approaches, and may differ from it by less than any given difference, but to which, under the law of variation, the variable can never become exactly equivalent. Elastic limit. See under Elastic. — Prison limits, a definite, extent of space in or around a prison, within which a prisoner has liberty to go and come.
Syn.
— Boundary; border; edge; termination; restriction; bound; confine.
LIMIT
Lim"it, v. t. [imp. & p. p. Limited; p. pr. & vb. n. Limiting.] Etym:
[F. limiter, L. limitare, fr. limes, limitis, limit; prob. akin to
limen threshold, E. eliminate; cf. L. limus sidelong.]
Defn: To apply a limit to, or set a limit for; to terminate, circumscribe, or restrict, by a limit or limits; as, to limit the acreage of a crop; to limit the issue of paper money; to limit one's ambitions or aspirations; to limit the meaning of a word. Limiting parallels (Astron.), those parallels of latitude between which only an occultation of a star or planet by the moon, in a given case, can occur.
LIMIT
Lim"it, v. i.
Defn: To beg, or to exercise functions, within a certain limited region; as, a limiting friar. [Obs.]