Also 7 lyme. [a. F. lime = mod.Pr. limo, ad. Sp. lima, a. Arab. līmah: see LEMON.]
1. The globular fruit of the tree Citrus Medica, var. acida, smaller than the lemon and of a more acid taste; more explicitly sour lime. Its juice is much used as a beverage. Sweet Lime, Citrus Medica, var. Limetta.
1638. Sir T. Herbert, Trav. (ed. 2), 28. The Ile [Mohelia] inricht us with many good things; Orenges, Lemons, Lymes.
1697. Dampier, Voy. (1729), I. 296. The Lime is a sort of bastard or Crab-limon. The Tree, or Bush that bears it, is prickly, like a Thorn, growing full of small boughs.
172746. Thomson, Summer, 664. To where the lemon and the piercing lime, Their lighter glories blend.
1784. Cowper, Task, III. 573. The ruddier orange and the paler lime.
1857. Henfrey, Bot., 260. Citrus Limetta, the cultivated Sweet Lime.
b. Applied with qualification to fruits of trees of other genera. Ogeechee Lime, the sour tupelo, Nyssa capitata, of which a conserve is made. Wild Lime, Atalantia monophylla (Treas. Bot., 1866), Xanthoxylum Pterota (Cent. Dict., 1890), and (in Jamaica) Rheedia lateriflora (Fawcett, in Bulletin Bot. Dept. Jamaica, 1896).
2. attrib. and Comb., as lime-green sb. and adj., lime-tree; lime-myrtle, the West-Indian name for Triphasia trifoliata (Grisebach, Flora Brit. W. Indies, 1864); lime-plant, the May-apple, Podophyllum peltatum; lime-punch, punch made with lime-juice instead of lemon-juice. Also LIME-JUICE.
1890. Daily News, 14 July, 3/4. The scene was gay with white gowns, pale heliotrope, citron, *lime-green.
1844. C. Johnson, Farmers Encycl. (Worc.), *Lime-plant, the May-apple, or wild mandrake; Podophyllum peltatum.
1834. Taits Mag., I. 299/2. I dine with a turtle-party at Bleadens. Nothing like Bleadens *lime punch, Sir Jacob, eh?
1748. Ansons Voy., II. viii. 216. We found there abundance of cassia, and a few *lime-trees.