imp

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See also: imp., Imp., and IMP

English

Etymology

The verb is from Middle English ympen, impen, from Old English impian, ġeimpian (“to graft”), from Proto-West Germanic *impōn, from Vulgar Latin *imputō (“to graft”) (unrelated to imputō (“I reckon, attribute”)), from Ancient Greek ἔμφυτος (émphutos, “planted”).

The noun is from Middle English ympe, impe, from Old English impa, impe (“an imp, scion, graft, shoot; young tree”), from the verb.

Pronunciation

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  • Audio (US)(file)
  • Rhymes: -ɪmp

Noun

imp (plural imps)

  1. A young or inferior devil; a malevolent supernatural creature, similar to a demon but smaller and less powerful. [from 16th c.]
    • 1771, James Beattie, The Minstrel:
      Nor cared to mingle in the clamorous fray / Of squabbling imps […]
  2. A mischievous child. [from 17th c.]
  3. A baby Tasmanian devil.
    • 2012 May, Abigail Tucker, “What is Killing the Tasmanian Devil”, in Smithsonian Magazine:
      When they are upset, their ears blush a furious crimson, resembling red horns and adding to their diabolical image. (Baby devils, packed four to a pouch, are known as imps.)
    • 2013 December 31, Alama Park Zoo, “2013 Animal Conservation Achievements”, in Conservation:
      Alma Park Zoo’s Tasmanian Devil Program is continuing to contribute to enhancing the genetic diversity of Tasmanian Devils with four new imps arriving this year.
    • 2014 May, Julie Rehmeyer, “Fatal Cancer Threatens Tasmanian Devil Populations”, in Discover: Science for the Curious:
      Although this devil was new to her — he was at the neck of the peninsula, which she visited only once a year — she often trapped the same devils dozens of times over the years, watching them grow from tiny imps in their mothers’ pouches to the grizzled old age of about 5.
  4. (obsolete) A young shoot of a plant, tree etc. [9th–17th c.]
    • 14th c., Sir Orfeo, 69:
      Þai sett hem doun al þre / Vnder a fair ympe-tre.
    • 1571, Arthur Golding, The Psalmes of David and others. With M. John Calvins Commentaries, “Epistle Dedicatorie,”[1]
      Out of these rootes spring other impes, no lesse perniciouse than the stockes of whiche they come […]
  5. (obsolete) A scion, offspring; a child. [15th–19th c.]
    • 1590, Edmund Spenser, The Faerie Queene I.3:
      And thou most dreaded impe of highest Ioue, / Faire Venus sonne, [...] come to mine ayde [...].
    • (Can we date this quote by Fairfax and provide title, author’s full name, and other details?)
      The tender imp was weaned.
  6. (UK, dialect, obsolete) Something added to, or united with, another, to lengthen it out or repair it, such as an addition to a beehive; a feather inserted in a broken wing of a bird; or a length of twisted hair in a fishing line.

Synonyms

Derived terms

Translations

The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout § Translations.

Verb

imp (third-person singular simple present imps, present participle imping, simple past and past participle imped)

  1. (obsolete) To plant or engraft.
  2. (archaic) To graft, implant; to set or fix.
    • 1596, Edmund Spenser, The Faerie Queene, IV.9:
      That headlesse tyrants tronke he reard from ground, / And, having ympt the head to it agayne, / Upon his usuall beast it firmely bound, / And made it so to ride as it alive was found.
  3. (falconry) To engraft (feathers) into a bird's wing.
    • 1633, George Herbert, "Easter Wings"
      With thee / Let me combine, / And feel this day thy victory / For, if I imp my wing on thine, / Affliction shall advance the flight in me.
    • 1900, Edward Blair Michell, The Art and Practice of Hawking, page 229:
      Into the small apertures thus made, the imping-needle will be more easily passed in the proper direction than if there had been no such preliminary boring. It remains only to effect the junction of the new and old feather.
    • 2004, Illinois Audubon, numbers 288-303, page 19:
      Bird rehabilitators borrow a trick from falconry with the age-old process of imping flight feathers on to a damaged bird.
    • 2016, David Scott, Raptor Medicine, Surgery and Rehabilitation, 2nd edition, page 246:
      In order for a feather to be impable, there must be at least 1′′ (2.5 cm) of intact feather shaft remaining and there should not be any longitudinal fissures in the shaft, which would severely weaken the union with the imped feather.
  4. To eke out, strengthen, enlarge.

Anagrams

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