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Imp   /ɪmp/   Listen
noun
Imp  n.  
1.
A shoot; a scion; a bud; a slip; a graft. (Obs.)
2.
An offspring; progeny; child; scion. (Obs.) "The tender imp was weaned."
3.
A young or inferior devil; a little, malignant spirit; a puny demon; a contemptible evil worker. "To mingle in the clamorous fray Of squabbling imps."
4.
Something added to, or united with, another, to lengthen it out or repair it, as, an addition to a beehive; a feather inserted in a broken wing of a bird; a length of twisted hair in a fishing line. (Obs. or Prov. Eng.)


verb
Imp  v. t.  (past & past part. imped; pres. part. imping)  
1.
To graft; to insert as a scion. (Obs.)
2.
(Falconry) To graft with new feathers, as a wing; to splice a broken feather. Hence, (Fig.): To repair; to extend; to increase; to strengthen; to equip. (Archaic) "Imp out our drooping country's broken wing." "Who lazily imp their wings with other men's plumes." "Here no frail Muse shall imp her crippled wing." "Help, ye tart satirists, to imp my rage With all the scorpions that should whip this age."





Collaborative International Dictionary of English 0.48


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"Imp" Quotes from Famous Books



... Master Sleep, where do these doors open upon?" asked I. "Upon the land of Oblivion," was the answer, "an extensive domain {44a} under the sceptre of my brother Death, and this great rampart is the boundary of vast Eternity." By this I could see that there was a little death-imp at every door, each one bearing arms, and a name different from that of his fellows; though it was evident that they, one and all, were the ministers of the same king. Nevertheless they were continually quarrelling about the sick; ...
— The Visions of the Sleeping Bard • Ellis Wynne
... a rabble crowd, and were received on the bank by the left-handed chief, who conducted them into the village with grave courtesy; driving to the right and left the swarms of old squaws, imp-like boys, and vagabond dogs, with which the place abounded. They wound their way between the cabins, which looked like dirt-heaps huddled together without any plan, and surrounded by old palisades; all filthy in the extreme, ...
— Journeys Through Bookland - Volume Four • Charles H. Sylvester
... was a sigh of content from across the table. "Now I have my bearings. My imp is Mac Holden and Mrs. Farrington is Aunt Teddy, of course. I met her in New York, last winter, at a dinner or two; but she evidently had ...
— Phebe, Her Profession - A Sequel to Teddy: Her Book • Anna Chapin Ray
... scenes, based on his jealousies of her, which some imp in her would lead her to provoke, notwithstanding that even as she spoke she regretted, and reached back for ...
— The Vertical City • Fannie Hurst
... old fellow whose face was redder than his half-bleached hair, and who having only two teeth like tusks left looked just like an oni (imp.) As for his wife, her teeth had long ago fallen out and the skin of her face seemed to have added a pucker for every year since a half century ...
— Japanese Fairy World - Stories from the Wonder-Lore of Japan • William Elliot Griffis


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