Brewer's: Limbo

A waste-basket; a place where things are stowed, too good to destroy but not good enough to use. In School theology unbaptised infants and good heathens go to Limbo. (Latin, limbus, the edge.) They cannot go to heaven, because they are not baptised, and they cannot go to the place of torment, because they have not committed sin at all, or because their good preponderates. (See Milton: Paradise Lost, bk. iii.) (See Araf.)

Related Content Allusions Foreign Words and Phrases Latin and Greek Word Elements Names: Their Origins and Meanings Old Testament Names Mythology Ancient Greek Literature & Mythology The Bible (King James version) The Koran (translation by J. M. Rodwell) Shakespeare's Plays Tales from Shakespeare (Charles and Mary Lamb) Frequently Misspelled Words Frequently Mispronounced Words Easily Confused Words Writing & Language