Definition of "gimble"

GIMBLE, v. to grin or smile. Though the g in this word is hard […] ]

, vol. II, p. 131

[…] I'd pull up at the garden-gate to take a bunch of flowers to stick in my buttonhole, and get a smile from ye that seemed to gimble itself through and through my buzzum !

1842 May, John Mills, “The Stage Coach; or The Road of Life”, in The Sporting Magazine‎, volume 15, number 145, page 241

[T]wo fine powdered footmen, all yellow, and green, and gold lace, comed running to open the door [...] one of them, giving a knowing wink to the other, all the same as if they took me for a burglar comed under fictious pretences to make observations. [...] Well, they gimbled at that again. Howsomever, the sight of the money kinder brought one of them to reason, so he took me into Mr. Maplestone's room at last; […]

1861, Agnes Strickland, Old Friends and New Acquaintances, page 364

Gimble—to grin or smile, (N.)]

[1878, Samuel Henry Miller, Sydney Barber Josiah Skertchly, The Fenland, Past and Present, iv

"Now then, what are yow gimbling1 at, young mester?" he said. 1 Grinning.

1888, George Manville Fenn, Dick o' the Fens, page 52

[…] sometimes they ‘giffle’ (fidget) or ‘gimble’ (grin) […]]

[1897, “Norfolk”, in The Quarterly Review, volume 185, page 147

The axle which revolves carries a small bevel wheel with 46 teeth, a similar wheel in all respects, only having 2 more teeth gears into this; but owing to its being hung on a gimble joint, like a ship's compass, it does not revolve, but makes a succession of rapid serpentine vibrations, around the face of the other wheel.

1878, J. Coleman, “Agricultural Mechanics”, in Robert Hunt, editor, Dictionary of Arts, Manufactures and Mines, page 29

He thus introduced a laterally- mounted one-star plate which could be tilted on a gimble ring.

1958, Charles Alfonso Zweng, Helicopter Rating, page 16

The first aerospace mechanism to utilize HOP actuators will be a gimble caging device being designed by Aeroflex Labs for a satellite to be launched in the fall of 1988.

1988, National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), Proceedings - Volume 22, page 27

In both the handheld and body-mounted versions, the sled connects to the rest of the rig through a gimble, which provides a full, flexible range of movement.

2006, Ian David Aronson, DV Filmmaking: From Start to Finish, page 60

It is gimbled such that if this is the aircraft , and this is the sensor, I can pull a maneuver, if my target is over here, and that sensor continues to stay locked on, and lases, even though I am pulling aways and leaving, it is a gimbled device .

1984, Defense Department Authorization and Oversight Hearings on H. R. 5167, US

Also, since the pushers are gimbled, the limb is no longer constrained to be in a fixed position. Another advantage of the DSLS is since the force can now be computer-controlled to push or pull on the subject's limb, […]

1984, IEEE Engineering in Medicine and Biology Society. Annual Conference, IEEE ... Frontiers of Engineering and Computing in Health Care

The sphere that permits the gimbling of the head also allows a theta rotation. With this experience a new head is designed to address TAB assembly with die attach. The gimbling feature is still desired to accommodate the non-planarity bonding surface of the substrate. Theta rotation must be prevented. The solution is a head with individual gimbling hot bar blades attached to a fixed head.

1992, International Society for Hybrid Microelectronics, Proceedings of the 1992 International Symposium on Microelectronics, October 19-21, 1992, Moscone Center, San Francisco, California: ISHM '92 Proceedings, International Society of Hybrid, page 408