limit

Etymology 1

From Middle English limit, from Old French limit, from Latin līmes (“a cross-path or balk between fields, hence a boundary, boundary line or wall, any path or road, border, limit”). Displaced native Old English ġemǣre.

noun

1. A restriction; a bound beyond which one may not go.
   There are several existing limits to executive power.
   Two drinks is my limit tonight.
   At the time, there seemed to be no limit to the size of ever-larger private equity deals, with banks falling over each other to arrange financing on generous terms and to invest money from their own private equity arms. 2012 March 6, Dan McCrum, Nicole Bullock and Guy Chazan, Financial Times, “Utility buyout loses power in shale gas revolution”
2. (mathematics) A value to which a sequence converges. Equivalently, the common value of the upper limit and the lower limit of a sequence: if the upper and lower limits are different, then the sequence has no limit (i.e., does not converge).
   The sequence of reciprocals has zero as its limit.
3. (mathematics) Any of several abstractions of this concept of limit.
   Category theory defines a very general concept of limit.
4. (category theory) The cone of a diagram through which any other cone of that same diagram can factor uniquely.
5. (poker) Fixed limit.
6. The final, utmost, or furthest point; the border or edge.
   the limit of a walk, of a town, or of a country
   Like many other large resorts, the town operated electric tramways, with open-topped cars. The journey down the steep incline to the harbour must have been exhilarating at times, testing the brakes on the vehicles to the limit. September 8 2021, Dr Joseph Brennan, “Electric tramways at the heart of our seaside story”, in RAIL, number 939, page 59
7. (obsolete) The space or thing defined by limits.
8. (obsolete) That which terminates a period of time; hence, the period itself; the full time or extent.
9. (obsolete) A restriction; a check or curb; a hindrance.
10. (logic, metaphysics) A determining feature; a distinguishing characteristic.
11. (cycling) The first group of riders to depart in a handicap race.
12. (colloquial, as "the limit") A person who is exasperating, intolerable, astounding, etc.
    Englehorn looked at his employer in incredulous admiration. ‘You’re the limit,’ he declared. 1932, Delos W. Lovelace, King Kong, published 1965, page 63

adj

1. (poker) Being a fixed limit game.

Etymology 2

From Middle English limiten, from Old French limiter, from Latin līmitō (“to bound, limit, fix, determine”), from līmes; see noun.

verb

1. (transitive) To restrict; not to allow to go beyond a certain bound, to set boundaries.
   We need to limit the power of the executive.
   I'm limiting myself to two drinks tonight.
   [The Chinese government] has jailed environmental activists and is planning to limit the power of judicial oversight by handing a state-approved body a monopoly over bringing environmental lawsuits. 2013-08-10, “Can China clean up fast enough?”, in The Economist, volume 408, number 8848
   Beeching is more disparaging about suburban services beyond the capital, and I think here lies one of the most critical shortcomings in his analysis. By not considering the potential for these cities to grow, both on their own merits and in response to London's limitations, he failed to future-proof these types of service, limiting them in favour of long-distance services. March 8 2023, Gareth Dennis, “The Reshaping of things to come...”, in RAIL, number 978, page 48
2. (mathematics, intransitive) To have a limit in a particular set.
   The sequence limits on the point a.
3. (obsolete) To beg, or to exercise functions, within a certain limited region.
   a limiting friar