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Glite Dictionary
to gimp around

to gimp around

9.9
To move slowly and awkwardly because of pain or stiffness
  • phrasal verb
  • Informal
translation icon : cojear
  • She didn’t want anyone to see her gimp around the office after her surgery.

Examples

  • He gimps around after his knee injury.

  • Why do you gimp around like that?

  • After spraining his ankle, he could only gimp around the house for a few days.

  • Instead of gimping around in pain, why not visit a doctor?

  • After his knee injury, he had to gimp around the house on crutches.

  • She was gimping around the park, trying to avoid putting weight on her sore ankle.

  • Despite the pain, he continued to gimp around the field, cheering for his teammates.

Synonyms

to gimp
vsto gimp around
  • Informal
1 9.8

To walk with difficulty because of a leg or foot injury

is a neutral description of slow awkward movement from injury or stiffness
to bump around
vsto gimp around
1 4.2

To move in a rough, unsteady way while being knocked or pushed

focuses on slow awkward movement caused by injury or stiffness not external knocks
to gimp along
vsto gimp around
  • Informal
8.7

To walk slowly and with a limp because of a hurt leg

describes general awkward or slow movement not limited to walking

Antonyms

to glide
89 2.9

To move smoothly and without effort through the air or over a surface

How Awkward

crawl
23 1.2
to limp
73 2.6
to gimp around
  • Informal
9.9
shuffle
11 3.9
to walk
∞ 1.0

Surface Forms

gimp around infinitive
gimped around past
gimped around past participle
gimping around present participle
gimps around third person singular

Morphology

gimp + around

The verb 'gimp' means to walk or hobble because of injury and 'around' indicates moving about; the combined meaning 'hobble/move about awkwardly' is directly compositional and predictable from the parts. This follows a common English motion verb + particle pattern that is cross-linguistically familiar, so a B1 learner who knows both constituents would readily infer the MWE meaning.

Etymology

Gimp around comes from an older use of gimp meaning 'to limp', and it creates the image of someone taking slow, uneven steps as they move around a room because of pain. That's why it now means 'to move awkwardly or slowly', often because of an injury.