Citations:limn

English citations of limn

			1658		1880	1964	2000
ME «	15th c.	16th c.	17th c.	18th c.	19th c.	20th c.	21st c.

1. (transitive, also figuratively) To draw or paint; to delineate.
   • 1661 November 1, Thomas Browne, “[Domestic Correspondence.] Dr. Browne to His Son Thomas.—Norwich, Nov. 1, [1661.]”, in Simon Wilkin, editor, The Works of Sir Thomas Browne (Bohn’s Antiquarian Library), volume III, London: Henry G[eorge] Bohn, published 1852, →OCLC, page 395:

     Read books which are in french and Latin, for so you may retain and increase your knowledge in Latin: some times draw and limn and practise perspective.

   • 1881, Dante Gabriel Rossetti, “Five English Poets. II. William Blake. (To Frederick Shields, on His Sketch of Blake’s Work-room and Death-room, 3, Fountain Court, Strand.)”, in Ballads and Sonnets, London: Ellis and White, […], →OCLC, stanza 4, page 314, lines 9–10:

     This cupboard, Holy of Holies, held the cloud / Of his soul writ and limned; […]

   • 1964, Kōbō Abe [pseudonym; Kimifusa Abe], chapter 30, in E. Dale Saunders, transl., The Woman in the Dunes: Translated from the Japanese, New York, N.Y.: Alfred A. Knopf, →OCLC; 1st Vintage International edition, New York, N.Y.: Vintage International, Vintage Books, April 1991, →ISBN, pages 226–227:

     As he looked up at the rim of the hole, faintly limned in the moonlight, he mused that this searching feeling of his was perhaps jealousy.

   • 2000 March 10, Michiko Kakutani, “Earthlings may endanger your peaceful rationality [review of Mr. Spaceman (2000) by Robert Olen Butler]”, in The New York Times‎^[1], New York, N.Y.: The New York Times Company, →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the original on 27 May 2015:

     In telling these people's stories Mr. [Robert Olen] Butler draws upon the same gifts of empathy and insight, the same ability to limn an entire life in a couple of pages, […]