Also 7 lyme. [a. F. lime = mod.Pr. limo, ad. Sp. lima, a. Arab. līmah: see LEMON.]

1

  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.

2

1638.  Sir T. Herbert, Trav. (ed. 2), 28. The Ile [Mohelia] inricht us with many good things;… Orenges, Lemons, Lymes.

3

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.

4

1727–46.  Thomson, Summer, 664. To where the lemon and the piercing lime,… Their lighter glories blend.

5

1784.  Cowper, Task, III. 573. The ruddier orange and the paler lime.

6

1857.  Henfrey, Bot., 260. Citrus Limetta, the cultivated Sweet Lime.

7

  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).

8

  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.

9

1890.  Daily News, 14 July, 3/4. The scene was gay with white gowns, pale heliotrope, citron, *lime-green.

10

1844.  C. Johnson, Farmer’s Encycl. (Worc.), *Lime-plant, the May-apple, or wild mandrake; Podophyllum peltatum.

11

1834.  Tait’s Mag., I. 299/2. ‘I dine with a turtle-party at Bleaden’s.’ ‘Nothing like Bleaden’s *lime punch, Sir Jacob, eh?’

12

1748.  Anson’s Voy., II. viii. 216. We found there abundance of cassia, and a few *lime-trees.

13