# gimp

Pronunciation: say "GIMP" /ɡɪmp/

## Verb

1. To make something underpowered, or limit how useful it is, especially a character, weapon, or ability in a game. *(slang)*
   - Simple: In video games, to make a character or thing weaker or less useful.
   - _Players were furious when the developers gimped the sniper rifle in the latest patch._
   - _Some speedrunners gimp their own characters with weak gear just for the challenge._
6. To limp, or to hobble along slowly and awkwardly. *(colloquial)*
   - Simple: To limp, or to walk along slowly and awkwardly.
   - _Exhausted runners often gimp across the finish line on blistered feet._
   - _He was still gimping a week after the knee surgery._

## Noun

2. A submissive partner in BDSM who is dressed in a full-body suit of latex or a similar material.
   - Simple: In sex role-play, a person who obeys a partner and wears a tight rubber suit over the whole body.
   - _At the fetish club, a gimp in head-to-toe latex knelt quietly beside his partner._
   - _The play's most unsettling character is a masked gimp who never speaks and obeys every command._
3. An insulting name for a person seen as inept, deficient, or peculiar. *(slang)*
   - Simple: An insulting name for someone people think is clumsy, useless, or strange.
4. A narrow decorative braid of silk, wool, or cotton, often stiffened by a metal wire or coarse cord inside it, used to trim dresses, curtains, and furniture.
   - Simple: A thin, fancy braid used as decoration on dresses, curtains, or chairs.
   - _The upholsterer glued gimp along the seat frame to hide the tacks._
   - _Her grandmother's velvet dress was trimmed with black gimp at the collar and cuffs._
5. An offensive word for a person who is lame because of a disability or injury of the legs or feet. *(slang)*
   - Simple: A rude, hurtful word for a person who cannot walk well because of a problem with their legs or feet.
7. The plastic cord used to plait and knot lanyards and similar crafts, or the craft itself.
   - Simple: Plastic string that you braid and knot to make lanyards, or the craft of making them.
   - _The campers spent the rainy afternoon doing gimp at the craft tables._
   - _Each lanyard needs several feet of gimp in two colors._
8. Any coarse or reinforced thread, such as the glazed thread lacemakers use to outline a design, or a silk fishing leader wrapped in fine wire against the bite of fish.
   - Simple: A thick or strong thread, like one used to outline lace patterns, or a fishing line wrapped in wire.
   - _The lacemaker worked a heavier gimp around each flower to make the pattern stand out._
   - _He tied a short length of gimp above the hook so the pike could not bite through._
9. A character or ability in a game that is underpowered. *(slang)*
   - Simple: In video games, a character or skill that is too weak.
   - _After the latest update, my rogue is such a gimp that I can barely win a single fight._
   - _The forums are full of complaints that the new hero is a gimp next to the old ones._
10. A limp, or an uneven, limping way of walking. *(colloquial)*
   - Simple: A limp, or an uneven way of walking.
   - _The old shortstop still walks with a gimp from a slide he made decades ago._
   - _She tried to hide the gimp in her step as she crossed the stage._

## Noun

11. Gumption: the spirit, energy, and drive to get something done. *(dated, Northeastern, US)*
   - Simple: The energy and courage to get up and do things.
   - _My great-uncle used to say that a farmer with no gimp would never get his hay in._
   - _The coach wanted players with more gimp and less talk._

## Verb

12. To notch or indent something, making it jagged or giving its edge a row of serrations or grooves. *(dated)*
   - Simple: To cut small notches or grooves into something, so its edge is not smooth.

## Adjective

13. Neat and trim in appearance, slender and delicate, or handsome and elegant. *(dated)*
   - Simple: Slim, neat, and good-looking.

## Other meanings

- (verb) To wind another length of yarn or wire in a tight spiral around yarn, cord, or thread, often by machine; more generally, to wrap or twist something with string or wire.

## Origin

**Meanings 4, 7–8, 11–12** — English records of the word go back to about 1660. Its likely source is Old French guimpre, an alternative form of guipure, which is a type of trimming, perhaps by way of French guimpe or Dutch gimp. The regional meaning "gumption" is documented by 1898. It may refer to the strength of reinforced gimp cord or owe something to the words gumption and gumph.
**Meanings 1–3, 5–6, 9–10** — This turns up in American slang from the 1920s on. Limp may have shaped it, or the two may be related.
**Meaning 13** — A Scots form of jimp; compare Welsh gwymp ("fair, neat, comely").

Source: DictionaryAI, https://dictionaryai.com/define/gimp (written from Wiktionary data, CC BY-SA 4.0: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/).