lime - Wiktionary, the free dictionary (original) (raw)

From Wiktionary, the free dictionary

From Middle English lyme, lym, lime, from Old English līm, from Proto-West Germanic *līm, from Proto-Germanic *līmaz, from Proto-Indo-European *h₂leyH- (“to smear”).

Cognate with Saterland Frisian Liem (“glue”), Dutch lijm, German Leim (“glue”), Danish lim (from Old Norse lím), Latin limus (“mud”).

lime (countable and uncountable, plural limes)

  1. (chemistry) Any inorganic material containing calcium, usually calcium oxide (quicklime) or calcium hydroxide (slaked lime).
    • 1952, L.F. Salzman, Building in England, page 149:
      Lime, which is the product of the burning of chalk or limestone, might be bought ready burnt, or it could be burnt in kilns specially constructed in the neighbourhood of the building operations.
  2. (poetic) Any gluey or adhesive substance that traps or captures; sometimes a synonym for birdlime.
  3. (theater) A limelight; any spotlight.
    • 1980, Peter Evans, Peter Sellers: The Mask Behind the Mask, page 30:
      Sellers moved on until he was actually trusted to operate the limes, the spotlights that can make or destroy an artist's act.
    • 2018, Robert Charles Hines, Twists and Turns: 13 Tales of the Uneasy, page 121:
      Then out of the blue, a spotlight much like the “limes” in a theatre, lit up what seemed like a Punch and Judy tent […] He struggled even more, when from out of the shadows and into the bright light of the limes, stepped Uncle Jolly.

inorganic material containing calcium

Translations to be checked

lime (third-person singular simple present limes, present participle liming, simple past and past participle limed)

  1. (transitive) To treat with calcium hydroxide or calcium oxide (lime).
  2. (transitive) To smear with birdlime.
    1. (rare) To ensnare, catch, entrap.
  3. (transitive) To apply limewash.

to treat with lime

to smear with birdlime

to apply limewash

Avenue of limes (Tilia) in Prague.

Lime (17th c.) and line (16th c.) are alterations of obsolete lind, from Middle English lynde, from Old English lind, from Proto-Germanic *lindijō. The phonetic development is unusual, but it has been suggested that it began in compounds (loss of -d- perhaps before tree, the change to -m- before labials as in bark or wood). Doublet of linden, which see.

lime (countable and uncountable, plural limes)

  1. A deciduous tree of the genus Tilia, especially Tilia × europaea; the linden tree.
    • 1828, Thomas Keightley, The Fairy Mythology, volume I, London: William Harrison Ainsworth, page 158:
      The linden or lime tree is the favourite haunt of the Elves and cognate beings; and it is not safe to be near it after sunset.
    • 1871, George Eliot [pseudonym; Mary Ann Evans], chapter III, in Middlemarch […], volume I, Edinburgh; London: William Blackwood and Sons, →OCLC, book I, page 38:
      But there was nothing of an ascetic's expression in her bright full eyes, as she looked before her, not consciously seeing, but absorbing into the intensity of her mood, the solemn glory of the afternoon with its long swathes of light between the far-off rows of limes, whose shadows touched each other.
  2. The wood of this tree.

A lime.

From French lime, from Spanish lima, from Arabic لِيمَة (līma), from Persian لیمو (limu). Doublet of lemon.

lime (countable and uncountable, plural limes)

  1. Any of several green citrus fruit, somewhat smaller and sharper-tasting than a lemon.
  2. Any of the trees that bear limes, especially Key lime, Citrus aurantiifolia.
  3. (uncountable) Any of several brilliant, sometimes yellowish, green colours associated with the fruits of a lime tree.
    Synonym: lime green (broadly synonymous, precisely hyponymous)
    lime:
    lime:
    lime:
    lime green:
    Web lime:
    bright lime:
    electric lime:
    Arctic lime:
    Key lime:
    French lime:
    1. A particular one of those colours that has been standardized under this name, at least in some organizations' standards.
      lime:
      lime:
      lime:
  4. (fandom slang) A fan fiction story which contains sexual references, but stops short of full, explicit descriptions of sexual activity (coined by analogy with lemon).
    • 1998 June 8, Gary Kleppe, “[Ranma][Fanfic] Tangled Web”, in rec.arts.anime.creative‎[1] (Usenet):
      WARNING: This is a lime. While it does not show explicit sex, as a lemon would, references to sexual situations abound.
    • 1998 December 29, jiml...@earthlink.net, “[EVA][FanFic][Lemon] Garden of EVA 0:6x - Wet Dreams Bite!”, in rec.arts.anime.creative‎[2] (Usenet):
      Even with all the sex in Garden of EVA, I still think the main stories are better for just being the lemon-scented limes that they are.
    • 2001 November 27, Schemer, “[Ranma/SF][FanFic] A Learning Experience - Chapter 01”, in rec.arts.anime.creative‎[3] (Usenet):
      I have no intention of writing any lemon scenes, limes are possibilities but unlikely and if they occur they will be few in number.

green citrus fruit

citrus tree

colour

Colo(u)rs in English (layout · text)
red orange yellow green blue (incl. indigo) purple / violet
magenta, pink brown cyan, teal, turquoise white gray/grey black

lime (not comparable)

  1. Containing lime or lime juice.
  2. Having the aroma or flavor of lime.
  3. Lime-green.

containing lime or lime juice

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Either a back-formation of limer or from the derogatory term limey, a term first given to British soldiers but also used by Trinidadians for American soldiers who used to hang out idle in Port of Spain during World War 2.

lime (third-person singular simple present limes, present participle liming, simple past and past participle limed)

  1. (Caribbean, Barbados, Trinidad and Tobago, informal) To hang out or socialize in an informal, relaxed environment, especially with friends, for example at a party or on the beach.

lime (plural limes)

  1. (Caribbean, Trinidad & Tobago) A casual gathering to socialize.

lime (plural limes)

  1. Alternative form of lyam (“a leash”).

Inherited from Proto-Malayo-Polynesian *lima.

lime

  1. five

From English lime.

lime c (singular definite limen, plural indefinite **lime or limes)

  1. lime (fruit)

From the noun lim (“glue”).

lime (imperative lim, infinitive at lime, present tense limer, past tense limede, perfect tense har limet)

  1. to glue

lime

  1. five

From English lime.

lime

  1. (proscribed) lime (citrus tree and its fruit)
    Synonym: limetti
  2. lime or lemon juice as part of a cocktail

From Latin līma.

lime f (plural limes)

  1. file (tool)

Borrowed from Spanish lima, from Arabic لِيمَة (līma).

lime f (plural limes)

  1. (Belgium, Canada) lime (fruit, tree)
    Synonym: limette

lime

  1. inflection of limar:
    1. first/third-person singular present subjunctive
    2. third-person singular imperative

lime f pl

  1. plural of lima

Borrowed from English lime.

lime m (usually invariable, plural (rare) limi)

  1. lime (citrus tree)

  2. ^ lime in Luciano Canepari, Dizionario di Pronuncia Italiana (DiPI)

(This etymology is missing or incomplete. Please add to it, or discuss it at the Etymology scriptorium.)

lime (plural **lime dem, quantified **lime)

  1. lime (small green citrus fruit)
    It sour like lime. ― It's as sour as a lime.
    When the virus get drastic, mi a guh draw fi mi garlic and lime.
    When the virus gets worse, I'm going to start taking garlic and lime.
  2. hangout, get-together (social gathering)

lime

  1. hang out
  2. dawdle, idle

līme

  1. vocative singular of līmus

lime

  1. alternative form of lym (“quicklime”)

lime

  1. alternative form of lyme (“limb”)

From Persian لیمو (limu), via Arabic لِيمَة (līma), Spanish lima, and English lime.

lime m (definite singular limen, indefinite plural limer, definite plural limene)

  1. a lime (citrus fruit)

From Old Norse líma.

lime (imperative lim, present tense limer, passive limes, simple past lima or limet or limte, past participle lima or limet or limt, present participle limende)

  1. to glue or paste (something)

From Old Norse líma.

lime (present tense limer, past tense limde/limte, past participle limt, passive infinitive limast, present participle limande, imperative lim)

  1. (transitive) to glue

ein oppskoren lime

Borrowed from English lime. From Persian لیمو (limu), via Arabic لِيمَة (līma).

lime m (definite singular limen, indefinite plural limar, definite plural limane)

  1. (citrus fruit) a lime
  2. (usually uncountable) lime juice

ein sopelime

From Old Norse lími.

lime m (definite singular limen, indefinite plural limar, definite plural limane)

  1. a besom, broom
    Synonyms: kvast, sovl

lime

  1. dative singular of lim

līme

  1. dative singular of līm

lime

  1. inflection of limar:
    1. first/third-person singular present subjunctive
    2. third-person singular imperative

lime

  1. inflection of limar:
    1. first/third-person singular present subjunctive
    2. third-person singular imperative

en lime

en limeklyfta [a lime wedge]

Borrowed from English lime.

lime c

  1. a lime (fruit)
    Synonym: limefrukt
    Pressa i saften från en lime
    Squeeze in the juice of [from] a lime
  2. lime juice
    Synonym: limejuice

lime

  1. five