limped

verb (used without object)

1. to walk with a labored, jerky movement, as when lame.
2. to proceed in a lame, faltering, or labored manner: His writing limps from one cliché to another. The old car limped along.
3. to progress slowly and with great difficulty; make little or no advance: an economy that limps along at a level just above total bankruptcy.

noun

4. a lame movement or gait: The accident left him with a slight limp.

verb (intr)

1. to walk with an uneven step, esp with a weak or injured leg
2. to advance in a labouring or faltering manner

noun

3. an uneven walk or progress

adjective

1. not firm or stiff
2. not energetic or vital
3. (of the binding of a book) not stiffened with boards

v.1560s, of unknown origin, perhaps related to Middle English lympen “to fall short” (c.1400), which is probably from Old English lemphealt “halting, lame, limping,” which has a lone cognate in the rare Middle High German limphin, and perhaps is from a PIE root meaning “slack, loose, to hang down” (cf. Sanskrit lambate “hangs down,” Middle High German lampen “to hang down”). Related: Limped; limping. As a noun, 1818, from the verb. adj.1706, “flaccid, drooping,” of obscure origin, perhaps related to limp (v.). n.

1. An irregular, jerky, or awkward gait; a claudication.

v.

1. To walk lamely, especially with irregularity, as if favoring one leg.