limit

Less common meanings

4. 4
   mathnouncountable

   In mathematics, the value that a sequence of numbers gets closer and closer to as it continues.

   The sequence approaches a limit of zero as n grows large.

   The sequence 1/2, 2/3, 3/4, and so on has a limit of 1.

   UsageA sequence has a limit of some value, or approaches or converges to it.

   Note

   The calculus term rests on the image of a boundary a sequence keeps approaching. The test is strict: when the upper and lower limits of a sequence disagree, it has no limit at all. The same idea can also be put as a verb, to limit on a point.

5. 5
   capped-stake (poker)adjective

   Of a poker game, having bets restricted to fixed, predetermined amounts.

   Most beginners start with limit hold'em before trying riskier formats.

   The tournament featured a limit structure throughout the early rounds.

   UsageComes before a noun: limit hold'em, a limit game.

6. 6
   noununcountable

   A form of poker played with fixed betting amounts set in advance rather than chosen freely.

   Many cardrooms still offer limit alongside other betting formats.

   She switched to limit to reduce her swings.

   UsageUsed like a game's name, with no a or the: play limit, switch to limit.

   Note

   Card players use the noun as a clipped form of fixed limit, and it names the betting format itself. Every bet is a fixed amount set in advance rather than chosen freely. It behaves like the name of a game, with no a or the: play limit, switch to limit. The adjective appears in a limit game.

7. 7
   annoying personnouncolloquial

   A person who is exasperating, intolerable, or astonishing, used informally.

   Oh, that woman is the limit. She complained about everything all evening.

   After three late nights in a row, he decided his roommate was simply the limit.

   UsageAlmost always the limit, usually after be: you're the limit. It can sound annoyed or amazed.

   Note

   In Delos W. Lovelace's King Kong (1932), Englehorn says it to his employer in incredulous admiration: "You're the limit." That shows the amazed side of a colloquial phrase that can just as easily sound exasperated. It nearly always comes as the limit after be, as in you're the limit or she's the limit.

8. 8
   defining featurenouncountable

   A determining feature; a distinguishing characteristic that marks one thing off from another.

   Similarcharacteristic, feature

   Note

   Logic and metaphysics turn the boundary idea inward: what bounds a thing is what defines it. A limit in this sense is the feature that marks something off as the kind of thing it is. The sense belongs to philosophical argument. Outside it, a writer would say distinguishing characteristic or defining trait. Source

   Checked 6 Nov 2026 · 2 facts

   • Philosophical accounts connect a thing’s limit with its essence or defining nature. classics.mit.edu
   • Limit has a sense in logic and metaphysics meaning a determining or distinguishing feature. en.wiktionary.org
9. 9
   nounobsolete

   The point that ends a period of time, and so the period or full extent itself.

   The limit of your lives is out.

   c. 1593, William Shakespeare, “The Tragedy of Richard the Third:”

   the dateless limit of thy dear exile

   1595, William Shakespeare, “The Life and Death of King Richard the Second”

   Note

   Here the boundary falls in time rather than space, and the word grows to mean the span that boundary closes. In Shakespeare's Richard III, "the limit of your lives is out" means the allotted lifetime has run out. In his Richard II, the "dateless limit" of an exile is a term with no end. The sense is obsolete; modern prose would say term or span. Source

   Checked 6 Nov 2026 · 3 facts

   • Historically, limit could mean an endpoint in time and, by extension, the whole period. en.wiktionary.org
   • Shakespeare's Richard III contains the quoted words, spoken by Ratcliff to prisoners facing execution; the context supports the explanation that their allotted lifetime has ended. shakespeare.mit.edu
   • In Shakespeare's Richard II, King Richard describes Mowbray's exile as having a dateless limit, explicitly sentencing him never to return. shakespeare.mit.edu
10. 10
    nounobsolete

    The space or thing that is marked out by its boundaries.

    The archdeacon hath divided it / Into three limits very equally.

    c. 1597, William Shakespeare, “The First Part of Henry the Fourth,”

    Note

    An obsolete shift from the line to what it encloses: a limit was the bounded piece of land itself, a district or share. In Shakespeare's Henry IV, Part 1, the archdeacon divides the land into three limits very equally. Modern English would say region or portion, and using the word this way now reads as deliberate archaism. Source

    Checked 6 Nov 2026 · 2 facts

    • Limit historically denoted the bounded space or thing itself, including a territorial portion. en.wiktionary.org
    • In Shakespeare's Henry IV, Part 1, Mortimer says that the archdeacon has divided the land into three limits very equally. shakespeare.mit.edu
11. 11
    verbobsolete

    To beg, or to carry out one's duties, within a fixed region.

    Note

    An obsolete verb tied to medieval friars, surviving mainly in the phrase a limiting friar. Such a friar begged or carried out his duties within an assigned district, his limit in the old territorial sense. The word is useful for reading historical texts, not for current use. Source

    Checked 6 Nov 2026 · 4 facts

    • The obsolete verb sense is exemplified by the phrase “a limiting friar”. en.wiktionary.org
    • Medieval friars could be assigned districts within which to perform their duties. gutenberg.org
    • Such a friar could be licensed to beg within assigned bounds. en.wiktionary.org
    • An obsolete territorial sense of “limit” denotes the area enclosed by boundaries. en.wiktionary.org
12. 12
    verb

    In mathematics, to have a limit that falls within a particular set.
13. 13
    noun

    In mathematics, any of several broader versions of the idea of a limit, such as the limit of a diagram in category theory.
14. 14
    noun

    Ellipsis of harmonic limit.
15. 15
    noun

    In handicap cycling races, the group of riders who are sent off first, ahead of everyone else.