Etymology [edit]. The Old English noun impa meant a young shoot or scion of a plant or tree, and later came to mean the scion of a noble house, or a child in general.ven if the imp was successful in getting the friendship it sought, it often still played pranks and jokes on its friend, either out of boredom or simply because this was the nature of the imp. This trait gave way to using the term impish for someone who loves pranks and practical jokes.
Sedentary farming is a method of agriculture in which the same land is farmed every year. This is in contrast to nomadic farming, in which new areas are farmed as the soil becomes less nutrient-rich from extensive planting, and shifting cultivation, which uses controlled forest fires to produce arable land. Continue Reading.
Scientists believe that one of the causes of the obesity epidemic sweeping the US is our sedentary lifestyle. Sedentary means sitting a lot and refers to a person or job that is not very physically active. This adjective has a specialized meaning when referring to certain types of birds that stay in one area and do not migrate. Sedentary is from French sÃ©dentaire, from Old French, from Latin sedentÄrius, from sedÄre to sit.. Definitions of sedentary.