lemon
Contents
EnglishEdit
EtymologyEdit
From Middle English lymon, from Old French lymon (“citrus”), from Arabic لَيْمُون (laymūn) or Ottoman Turkish لیمون (limon), from Persian لیمو (limu).[1] Cognate with Sanskrit निम्बू (nimbū, “lime”).
PronunciationEdit
NounEdit
lemon (plural lemons)
- A yellowish citrus fruit.
- A semitropical evergreen tree, Citrus limon, that bears such fruits.
- A taste or flavour/flavor of lemons.
- A more or less bright shade of yellow associated with lemon fruits.
- lemon flesh colour:
- lemon rind colour:
- (slang) A defective or inadequate item or individual.
- He didn’t realise until he’d paid for it that the car was a lemon.
- 1951, Herman Wouk, chapter 20, in The Caine Mutiny, page 243:
- “ […] the Navy's supposed to give me a ship that goes, and a captain that fights—— That's what all this muck is for, isn't it?”
“Look, it's an old story by now. We're stuck with a lemon. Misfortune of war. […] ”
- (Cockney rhyming slang, shortened from “lemon flavour”) Favor.
- A thousand quid for that motor? Do me a lemon, I could get it for half that.
- (fandom slang) A piece of fanfiction involving explicit sex (named after the erotic anime series Cream Lemon).
SynonymsEdit
Derived termsEdit
- bitter lemon
- do me a lemon
- lemonade
- lemonade berry
- lemon balm
- lemon-belly
- lemon cheese
- lemon chiffon
- lemon chiffon pie
- lemon crab
- lemon curd
- lemon drop
- lemongrass
- lemon grass
- lemon juice
- lemon law
- lemon lime
- lemon meringue pie
- lemon myrtle
- lemon soda
- lemon sole
- lemon squash
- lemon-squeezer
- lemon squeezer
- lemon thyme
- lemon verbena
- lemon vervain
- lemony
- lemon yellow
- sit there like a lemon
Related termsEdit
TranslationsEdit
citrus fruit
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tree
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defective item
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colour/color
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taste
- The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables, removing any numbers. Numbers do not necessarily match those in definitions. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout#Translations.
Translations to be checked
See alsoEdit
AdjectiveEdit
lemon (comparative more lemon, superlative most lemon)
- Containing or having the flavour/flavor and/or scent of lemons.
- Of the pale yellow colour/color of lemons.
- (Cockney rhyming slang, from "lemon tart") Smart; cheeky, vocal.
- 2009, Caitlin Moran, ‘Why I love paying tax’, The Times, 12 Oct 2009:
- Obviously Emin is not the first public figure to get lemon over tax increases.
- 2009, Caitlin Moran, ‘Why I love paying tax’, The Times, 12 Oct 2009:
TranslationsEdit
having the flavour/flavor and/or scent of lemons
having the colour/color of lemons
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VerbEdit
lemon (third-person singular simple present lemons, present participle lemoning, simple past and past participle lemoned)
- (transitive) To flavour with lemon.
- You can start the vegetables cooking while you are lemoning the fish.