You searched for: “limbo
limbo (s) (noun), limbos (pl)
1. A condition or situation in which someone or something is neglected or is simply regarded as being cast aside, forgotten, or out of date; left in oblivion: One form of limbo is when anyone or anything is imprisoned or confined.
A place of confinement or a condition of neglect.
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2. A place for souls of children who have not been christened: In Roman Catholic theology, limbo is the region on the border of hell or heaven, which serves as the abode after the death of unbaptized infants and of the righteous who died before the coming of Christ.
3. A West Indian dance: A form of limbo danced at the party was quite exciting when the dancers kept bending over backward and passing under a pole that was lowered slightly each time.
4. Etymology: from Latin in limbo, "on the edge".

Our use of the word limbo to refer to states of oblivion, confinement, or transition is derived from the theological sense of Limbo as a place where souls remain that cannot enter heaven.

Limbo in Roman Catholic theology is located on the border of Hell, which explains the name chosen for it. The Latin word limbus, having such meanings, as “an ornamental border to a fringe” and “a band or girdle”, was chosen by Christian theologians of the Middle Ages to denote this "border region".

English borrowed the word limbus directly, but the form that caught on in English, "limbo", first recorded in a work composed around 1378, is from the ablative form of limbus, the form that would be used in expressions; such as, in limb or "in limbo".

This entry is located in the following unit: Limbo, Part 1 (page 1)
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Units related to: “limbo
(Latin: on the border (of hell); form of limbus, border, edge)
(Latin: on the border (of hell); form of limbus, border, edge)
Word Entries containing the term: “limbo
Limbo Parts 1 and 2
Neither heaven nor hell, Limbo, Part 1 and Part 2, may no longer have a place in Roman Catholic Church beliefs.
This entry is located in the following unit: Special Contents of Interest (page 3)