limit

Concise Oxford English Dictionary © 2008 Oxford University Press:
limit/ˈlɪmɪt/

▶noun

• 1 a point beyond which something does not or may not pass or extend.

  ■ a terminal point or boundary.

  ■ the furthest extent of one's endurance.

• 2 a restriction on the size or amount of something: an age limit.

• 3 Mathematics a value which a sequence, function, or sum can be made to approach progressively.

▶verb (limits, limiting, limited) set or serve as a limit to.

– phrases
be the limit informal be intolerable.
off limits out of bounds.
within limits up to a point; moderately.

– derivatives
limitary adjective (rare),
limitative adjective,
limiter noun.

– origin ME: from L. limes, limit- ‘boundary, frontier’; the verb is from L. limitare, from limes.