limber

Etymology 1

Unknown; possibly related to limb or limp.

adj

1. Flexible, pliant, bendable.
   He's so limber that he can kiss his knee without bending it.
   Not yet the bargeman that doth rowe / with long and limber oare 1567, George Turberville, “A Myrrour of the fall of Pride”, in Epitaphs, Epigrams, Songs and Sonnets, page 155
   This is a very complicated case, Maude. A lot of ins, a lot of outs. Fortunately, I'm adhering to a pretty strict drug regimen to keep my mind limber. 1998, Joel and Ethan Coen, The Big Lebowski (motion picture), spoken by The Dude (Jeff Bridges)

verb

1. To cause to become limber; to make flexible or pliant.

Etymology 2

For the obsolete limmer, from Old Norse limar (“branches”), plural of lim.

noun

1. (military) A two-wheeled vehicle to which a wheeled artillery piece or caisson may be attached for transport.
   As the limber gunners went to the rear, his horse trod in a rabbit-hole and came down, throwing him into a depression of the ground. 1898, H.G. Wells, The War of the Worlds, London: William Heinemann, page 83
   we covered the rutted, rattling, dusty pot-holed roads of coastal Victoria, six big Walers in front, the cannon at the rear, and that unsprung cart they called a ‘limber’ in the middle. 1985, Peter Carey, Illywhacker, Faber and Faber, published 2003, page 29
2. (in the plural) The shafts or thills of a wagon or carriage.
3. (nautical, in the plural) Gutters or conduits on each side of the keelson to allow water to pass to the pump well.

verb

1. (obsolete) To prepare an artillery piece for transportation (i.e., to attach it to its limber.)