Green’s Dictionary of Slang

1. weak, incapable of standing straight.

1896		Southern Reporter 13 Aug. 4/3: She remembered Mary as a genteel, gimpy-looking person.
1914		Ade ‘The New Fable of the Search for Climate’ in Ade’s Fables 69: The very Treatment which developed large and coarse-grained Soldiers all through Schleswig-Holstein seemed to make this Son of Connecticut just about as gimpy as a wet Towel.

2. (also gimp, gimpty) crippled.

1925		G.H. Mullin Adventures of a Scholar Tramp 242: I can throw me knee out o’ joint and walk gimpy-legged.
1933		I.S. Cobb Murder Day by Day 230: Here came Verity wriggling in on his gimpy legs.
1934		H. Roth Call It Sleep (1977) 419: Who touched yer hump, yuh gimpty fu—.
1942		N. Algren Never Come Morning (1988) 242: I used to feel sorry for you sometimes, you’n your gimpy leg.
1953		F. Paley Rumble on the Docks (1955) 100: That crazy gimpty bastard.
1953		T. Runyon In For Life 244: Now I had a gimp hand.
1963		A.S. Fleischman Venetian Blonde (2006) 165: My right knuckles bothered me like a gimpy leg when you’re trying to run.
1976		N. Thornburg Cutter and Bone (2001) 179: I mourn to a degree for that gimpy fellow down there.
1986		L. Heinemann Paco’s Story (1987) 36: All he sees is some gimpy kid with a nice-looking cane.
1991		M.B. ‘Chopper’ Read Chopper From The Inside 48: Johnny and his gimpy leg have played on my mind for years.
1998		K. Anderson Night Dogs 491: ‘I should of let Animal Control have your gimpy old ass too’.
2007		C. Goffard Snitch Jacket 31: Arthritis, gout, a gimpy spine, and bad ticker.
2012		(con. 1980s) I. Welsh Skagboys 430: He’s a bit gimpy from a bad fall.
2016		T. Robinson Rough Trade [ebook] I limped [...] hampered by my size and gimpy leg.
2023		T. Dalzell 27 Dec. [letter] [I] have had a series of heart issues. Today it manifests with a gimpy left foot and a claw left hand with which i cannot type.

3. botched, second-rate.

1975		G. Underwood ‘Razorback Sl.’ in AS L:1/2 59: We paid for a gimpy job.
1999		P. McCabe Mondo Desperado 27: You gimpy-looking hoor and that fucker along with you! You hear me?
2006		G. Malkani Londonstani (2007) 9: I had to redeem myself after my gimpy remark about spellin Paki with a capital P.

4. in ext. use, a general insult.

1985		Totally True Diaries of an Eighties Roller Queen 🌐 27 July I really don’t like his gimpy friend Dan. He bugs the hell out of me.
2000		P. Roth Human Stain 248: Gimpy spic bastard, leave me alone!
2000		Indep. Rev. 13 June 4: The term ‘gimpy’ when used in playgrounds and school corridors has nothing to do with limping and bravery. It means ‘gay’.