limbo

{ } n. [ L. limbus border, edge in limbo on the border. Cf. Limb border. ] 1. (Scholastic Theol.) An spiritual region where certain classes of souls were supposed to await the last judgment. [ 1913 Webster ]

As far from help as Limbo is from bliss. Shak. [ 1913 Webster ]

A Limbo large and broad, since called
The Paradise of fools. Milton. [ 1913 Webster ]

☞ The limbus patrum was considered as a place for the souls of good men who lived before the coming of our Savior. The limbus infantium was said to be a similar place for the souls of unbaptized infants. To these was added, in the popular belief, the limbus fatuorum, or fool's paradise, regarded as a receptacle of all vanity and nonsense. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. Hence: Any real or imaginary place of restraint or confinement; a prison; as, to put a man in limbo. [ 1913 Webster ]

3. Hence: A state of waiting, or uncertainty, in which final judgment concerning the outcome of a decision is postponed, perhaps indefinitely; neglect for an indefinite time; as, the proposal was left in limbo while opponents and proponents refused to compromise. [ PJC ]

4. (Anat.) A border or margin; as, the limbus of the cornea. [ 1913 Webster ]