"go out on a limb" meaning in English

See go out on a limb in All languages combined, or Wiktionary

Verb

Audio: en-au-go out on a limb.ogg Forms: goes out on a limb [present, singular, third-person], going out on a limb [participle, present], went out on a limb [past], gone out on a limb [participle, past]
Head templates: {{en-verb|go<goes,,went,gone> out on a limb}} go out on a limb (third-person singular simple present goes out on a limb, present participle going out on a limb, simple past went out on a limb, past participle gone out on a limb)
  1. (idiomatic) To take a risk. Tags: idiomatic
    Sense id: en-go_out_on_a_limb-en-verb-8WjKcEPQ Categories (other): English entries with incorrect language header, Pages with 1 entry, Pages with entries Disambiguation of English entries with incorrect language header: 48 52 Disambiguation of Pages with 1 entry: 49 51 Disambiguation of Pages with entries: 50 50
  2. (idiomatic) To hazard a guess. Tags: idiomatic
    Sense id: en-go_out_on_a_limb-en-verb-hEXwQlcO Categories (other): English entries with incorrect language header, Pages with 1 entry, Pages with entries Disambiguation of English entries with incorrect language header: 48 52 Disambiguation of Pages with 1 entry: 49 51 Disambiguation of Pages with entries: 50 50
The following are not (yet) sense-disambiguated
Related terms: out on a limb

Inflected forms

{
  "forms": [
    {
      "form": "goes out on a limb",
      "tags": [
        "present",
        "singular",
        "third-person"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "going out on a limb",
      "tags": [
        "participle",
        "present"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "went out on a limb",
      "tags": [
        "past"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "gone out on a limb",
      "tags": [
        "participle",
        "past"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "head_templates": [
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "go<goes,,went,gone> out on a limb"
      },
      "expansion": "go out on a limb (third-person singular simple present goes out on a limb, present participle going out on a limb, simple past went out on a limb, past participle gone out on a limb)",
      "name": "en-verb"
    }
  ],
  "lang": "English",
  "lang_code": "en",
  "pos": "verb",
  "related": [
    {
      "_dis1": "48 52",
      "word": "out on a limb"
    }
  ],
  "senses": [
    {
      "categories": [
        {
          "_dis": "48 52",
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "English entries with incorrect language header",
          "parents": [
            "Entries with incorrect language header",
            "Entry maintenance"
          ],
          "source": "w+disamb"
        },
        {
          "_dis": "49 51",
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "Pages with 1 entry",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w+disamb"
        },
        {
          "_dis": "50 50",
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "Pages with entries",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w+disamb"
        }
      ],
      "examples": [
        {
          "text": "He doesn't want to go out on a limb, but he really should give it a try.",
          "type": "example"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "To take a risk."
      ],
      "id": "en-go_out_on_a_limb-en-verb-8WjKcEPQ",
      "links": [
        [
          "risk",
          "risk"
        ]
      ],
      "raw_glosses": [
        "(idiomatic) To take a risk."
      ],
      "tags": [
        "idiomatic"
      ]
    },
    {
      "categories": [
        {
          "_dis": "48 52",
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "English entries with incorrect language header",
          "parents": [
            "Entries with incorrect language header",
            "Entry maintenance"
          ],
          "source": "w+disamb"
        },
        {
          "_dis": "49 51",
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "Pages with 1 entry",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w+disamb"
        },
        {
          "_dis": "50 50",
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "Pages with entries",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w+disamb"
        }
      ],
      "examples": [
        {
          "text": "I’m going to go out on a limb here. You’re together?",
          "type": "example"
        },
        {
          "ref": "2017, BioWare, Mass Effect: Andromeda (Science Fiction), Redwood City: Electronic Arts, →OCLC, PC, scene: Just go for it:",
          "text": "We all see the way you stare at Kessia. From the way you two talk, it sounds like you knew each other on Kadara. I'm gonna go out on a limb and guess you came here for her.",
          "type": "quote"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "To hazard a guess."
      ],
      "id": "en-go_out_on_a_limb-en-verb-hEXwQlcO",
      "links": [
        [
          "hazard",
          "hazard"
        ],
        [
          "guess",
          "guess"
        ]
      ],
      "raw_glosses": [
        "(idiomatic) To hazard a guess."
      ],
      "tags": [
        "idiomatic"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "sounds": [
    {
      "audio": "en-au-go out on a limb.ogg",
      "mp3_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/transcoded/4/48/En-au-go_out_on_a_limb.ogg/En-au-go_out_on_a_limb.ogg.mp3",
      "ogg_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/4/48/En-au-go_out_on_a_limb.ogg"
    }
  ],
  "word": "go out on a limb"
}
{
  "categories": [
    "English entries with incorrect language header",
    "English lemmas",
    "English multiword terms",
    "English verbs",
    "Pages with 1 entry",
    "Pages with entries"
  ],
  "forms": [
    {
      "form": "goes out on a limb",
      "tags": [
        "present",
        "singular",
        "third-person"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "going out on a limb",
      "tags": [
        "participle",
        "present"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "went out on a limb",
      "tags": [
        "past"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "gone out on a limb",
      "tags": [
        "participle",
        "past"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "head_templates": [
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "go<goes,,went,gone> out on a limb"
      },
      "expansion": "go out on a limb (third-person singular simple present goes out on a limb, present participle going out on a limb, simple past went out on a limb, past participle gone out on a limb)",
      "name": "en-verb"
    }
  ],
  "lang": "English",
  "lang_code": "en",
  "pos": "verb",
  "related": [
    {
      "word": "out on a limb"
    }
  ],
  "senses": [
    {
      "categories": [
        "English idioms",
        "English terms with usage examples"
      ],
      "examples": [
        {
          "text": "He doesn't want to go out on a limb, but he really should give it a try.",
          "type": "example"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "To take a risk."
      ],
      "links": [
        [
          "risk",
          "risk"
        ]
      ],
      "raw_glosses": [
        "(idiomatic) To take a risk."
      ],
      "tags": [
        "idiomatic"
      ]
    },
    {
      "categories": [
        "English idioms",
        "English terms with quotations",
        "English terms with usage examples"
      ],
      "examples": [
        {
          "text": "I’m going to go out on a limb here. You’re together?",
          "type": "example"
        },
        {
          "ref": "2017, BioWare, Mass Effect: Andromeda (Science Fiction), Redwood City: Electronic Arts, →OCLC, PC, scene: Just go for it:",
          "text": "We all see the way you stare at Kessia. From the way you two talk, it sounds like you knew each other on Kadara. I'm gonna go out on a limb and guess you came here for her.",
          "type": "quote"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "To hazard a guess."
      ],
      "links": [
        [
          "hazard",
          "hazard"
        ],
        [
          "guess",
          "guess"
        ]
      ],
      "raw_glosses": [
        "(idiomatic) To hazard a guess."
      ],
      "tags": [
        "idiomatic"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "sounds": [
    {
      "audio": "en-au-go out on a limb.ogg",
      "mp3_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/transcoded/4/48/En-au-go_out_on_a_limb.ogg/En-au-go_out_on_a_limb.ogg.mp3",
      "ogg_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/4/48/En-au-go_out_on_a_limb.ogg"
    }
  ],
  "word": "go out on a limb"
}

Download raw JSONL data for go out on a limb meaning in English (2.1kB)


This page is a part of the kaikki.org machine-readable English dictionary. This dictionary is based on structured data extracted on 2024-12-15 from the enwiktionary dump dated 2024-12-04 using wiktextract (8a39820 and 4401a4c). The data shown on this site has been post-processed and various details (e.g., extra categories) removed, some information disambiguated, and additional data merged from other sources. See the raw data download page for the unprocessed wiktextract data.

If you use this data in academic research, please cite Tatu Ylonen: Wiktextract: Wiktionary as Machine-Readable Structured Data, Proceedings of the 13th Conference on Language Resources and Evaluation (LREC), pp. 1317-1325, Marseille, 20-25 June 2022. Linking to the relevant page(s) under https://kaikki.org would also be greatly appreciated.