Imp \Imp\ ([i^]mp), n. [OE. imp a graft, AS. impa; akin to Dan. ympe, Sw. ymp, prob. fr. LL. impotus, Gr. ? engrafted, innate, fr. ? to implant; ? in + ? to produce; akin to E. be. See 1st {In-}, {Be}.] 1. A shoot; a scion; a bud; a slip; a graft. [Obs.] --Chaucer.
2. An offspring; progeny; child; scion. [Obs.]
The tender imp was weaned. --Fairfax.
3. A young or inferior devil; a little, malignant spirit; a puny demon; a contemptible evil worker.
To mingle in the clamorous fray Of squabbling imps. --Beattie.
4. Something added to, or united with, another, to lengthen it out or repair it, -- as, an addition to a beehive; a feather inserted in a broken wing of a bird; a length of twisted hair in a fishing line. [Obs. or Prov. Eng.]
Imp \Imp\, v. t. [imp. & p. p. {Imped}; p. pr. & vb. n. {Imping}.] [AS. impian to imp, ingraft, plant; akin to Dan. ympe, Sw. ympa, OHG. impf[=o]n, impit[=o]n, G. impfen. See {Imp}, n.] 1. To graft; to insert as a scion. [Obs.] --Rom. of R.
2. (Falconry) To graft with new feathers, as a wing; to splice a broken feather. Hence, [Fig.]: To repair; to extend; to increase; to strengthen; to equip. [Archaic]
Imp out our drooping country's broken wing. --Shak.
Who lazily imp their wings with other men's plumes. --Fuller.
Here no frail Muse shall imp her crippled wing. --Holmes.
Help, ye tart satirists, to imp my rage With all the scorpions that should whip this age. --Cleveland.
Mr. Boyd's interpretation is consonant with many of Nabokov's declared intentions, but it does tend to scant the ferocity, the imp of the perverse, that lies within much of his actual work.
Has Ian Hislop really nothing more to him than the tacky raffishness of a middle-aged imp with the charisma of a gargoyle carved from a potato?
Vanessa Guedj is terrific as this matter-of-fact imp.