Limn

By Deane Barker • •

Definition: to illustrate a text; to “paint a picture” with words

Some definitions describe the literary usage as “archaic.” (Though I encountered it in a modern context – see below.)

It’s somewhat derived from “illuminate” in Old English.

Why I Looked It Up

In the book flap for Andre Agassi’s autobiography, Open:

Never before has the inner game of tennis and the outer game of fame been so precisely limned.

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