imp
noun
- mythical creature similar to a goblin
Wiktionary
Pronunciation: /ɪmp/
noun
Etymology: From implementer.
- Synonym of god (“person who owns and runs a multi-user dungeon”).
verb
Etymology: From Middle English impen, ympen (“to plant; (figuratively) to bury; to graft; to add to, insert, put into, set in; to mend (a falcon’s feather) by attaching a new feather on to the broken stump”), from Old English impian, ġeimpian (“to graft”), from Proto-West Germanic *impōn (“to graft”), from Vulgar Latin *imputō (“to graft”), from Ancient Greek ἔμφῠτος (émphŭtos, “implanted; planted”), from ἐμφῠ́ω (emphŭ́ō, “to implant”, from ἐν- (en-, prefix meaning ‘in’) + φῠ́ω (phŭ́ō, “to bring forth, produce; to grow”, ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *bʰuH- (“to appear; to become; to grow”))) + -τος (-tos).
- To engraft or plant (a plant or part of one, a sapling, etc.).
- To graft or implant (something other than a plant); to fix or set (something) in.
“That headleſſe tyrants tronke he reard from ground, / And, having ympt the head to it agayne, / Vpon his vſuall beaſt it firmely bound, / And made it ſo to ride, as it aliue was found.”
- To engraft (a feather) on to a broken feather in a bird's wing or tail to repair it; to engraft (feathers) on to a bird, or a bird's wing or tail.
“I have known feathers so imped that the eye could not discern the place of juncture, and it was difficult even to discover it by passing the thumb-nail down the shaft of the imped feather.”
“Bird rehabilitators borrow a trick from falconry with the age-old process of imping flight feathers on to a damaged bird.”
- To provide (someone or something) with wings, hence enabling them or it to soar.
“With thee / Let me combine, / And feel this day thy victorie: / For, if I imp my wing on thine, / Affliction ſhall advance the flight in me.”
- To add to or unite an object with (something) to lengthen the latter out or repair it; to eke out, enlarge, strengthen.