• IPA^(key): /laɪm/

• Audio (Southern England):

  (file)

• Rhymes: -aɪm

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.
   • 1610–1611 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Tempest”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies[…] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act IV, scene i]:

     Monster, come, put some lime upon your fingers, and away with the rest.

   • 1835, William Wordsworth, They called Thee Merry England, in old time [first line of unnamed poem]:

     Like the lime which foolish birds are caught with.

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.

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).
   • 1917, Rudyard Kipling, The Land:

     If I were you, I'd lime.

2. (transitive) To smear with birdlime.
   1. (rare) To ensnare, catch, entrap.
      • 1598–1599 (first performance), William Shakespeare, “Much Adoe about Nothing”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies[…] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act III, scene i]:

        URSULA. She's lim'd, I warrant you: we have caught her, madam.
        HERO. If it prove so, then loving goes by haps:
        Some Cupid kills with arrows, some with traps.

      • 1891, Thomas Hardy, Tess of the d'Urbervilles, volume 1, London: James R. Osgood, McIlvaine and Co., page 39:

        Abraham, like his parents, seemed to have been limed and caught by the ensnaring inn.

3. (transitive) To apply limewash.

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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.

• This tree (the linden) is unrelated to the citrus tree called lime (see Etymology 3 below). Both are trees with fragrant flowers, but the linden is more temperate, while the citrus is more tropical and subtropical. Outside Europe and adjoining parts of Asia, the citrus sense is much more common.

• linden

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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 ‎^[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 ‎^[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 ‎^[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.

• The citrus is unrelated to the linden tree, which often goes by the same name (see Etymology 2 above). Both are trees with fragrant flowers, but the linden is more temperate, while the citrus is more tropical and subtropical. Outside Europe and adjoining parts of Asia, the citrus sense is much more common.

• fruit
  • citrus

Colo(u)rs in English (layout · text)
red	orange	yellow	green	blue (incl. indigo)	purple / violet
magenta (including 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.

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”).

• limehound

• Emil, Elmi, mile, elim, Elim, Liem, Lemi, Meli, Imel, Mile

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.

• IPA^(key): /ˈlime/, [ˈlime̞]
• IPA^(key): /ˈlɑi̯m/, [ˈlɑ̝i̯m]
• Rhymes: -ime
• Syllabification^(key): li‧me
• Hyphenation^(key): li‧me

lime

1. (proscribed) lime (citrus tree and its fruit)

   Synonym: limetti

2. lime or lemon juice as part of a cocktail

• “lime”, in Kielitoimiston sanakirja [Dictionary of Contemporary Finnish]‎^[4] (in Finnish) (online dictionary, continuously updated), Kotimaisten kielten keskuksen verkkojulkaisuja 35, Helsinki: Kotimaisten kielten tutkimuskeskus (Institute for the Languages of Finland), 2004–, retrieved 3 July 2023

• Lemi, ilme, miel.

• IPA^(key): /lim/

• Audio; “une lime”:

  (file)

• Audio (France (Vosges)):

  (file)

• Rhymes: -im

From Latin līma.

lime f (plural limes)

1. file (tool)

• lime à ongles
• limer

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

lime f (plural limes)

1. (Belgium, Canada) lime (fruit, tree)

   Synonym: limette

• “lime”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012

• miel, mile

lime

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

• IPA^(key): /ˈli.me/, /ˈlajm/^[1]
• Rhymes: -ime, -ajm
• Hyphenation: lì‧me

lime f pl

1. plural of lima

Borrowed from English lime.

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

1. lime (citrus tree)

• elmi, meli

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

• IPA^(key): /ˈlaɪm/
• Hyphenation: lime

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

• Richard Allsopp, editor (1996), Dictionary of Caribbean English Usage, Kingston, Jamaica: University of the West Indies Press, published 2003, →ISBN, page 348

• (Classical Latin) IPA^(key): [ˈliː.mɛ]
• (modern Italianate Ecclesiastical) IPA^(key): [ˈliː.me]

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.

• IPA^(key): /laɪm/

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

1. a lime (citrus fruit)

From Old Norse líma.

• IPA^(key): /liːmə/

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)

• lim (noun)

• “lime” in The Bokmål Dictionary.

From Old Norse líma.

• IPA^(key): /²liːmə/

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

1. (transitive) to glue

• lima (a-infinitive)

• liming f

• lim n

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

• IPA^(key): /lɑɪ̯m/

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

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

• (citrus fruit): limett

• limejuice

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From Old Norse lími.

• IPA^(key): /²liːmə/

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

1. a besom, broom

   Synonyms: kvast, sovl

• sopelime m

• “lime” in The Nynorsk Dictionary.

• meil, mile

• IPA^(key): /ˈli.me/
• IPA^(key): /ˈliː.me/

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

• IPA^(key): /ˈlime/ [ˈli.me]
• Rhymes: -ime
• Syllabification: li‧me

lime

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

• miel

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👁 Image

Borrowed from English lime.

• IPA^(key): /lajm/

• Audio:

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ajm

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

• limefrukt (“lime fruit”)
• limegrön (“lime green”)

• citron (“lemon”)
• citrus
• kalk

• “lime”, in Svensk ordbok [Dictionary of Swedish] (in Swedish)
• “lime”, in Svenska Akademiens ordlista [Wordlist of the Swedish Academy] (in Swedish)
• “lime”, in Svenska Akademiens ordbok [Dictionary of the Swedish Academy] (in Swedish)

lime

1. five

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