See Also: Lemon posset with lemon shortbread(recipes)
Lemon Car(law)
Lemon(recipes)
sea lemon(medicine)
lemon(encyclopedia)
lemon(2)(dictionary)
lemon(1)(dictionary)
Lemon(finance)
Lemon(money)
Lemon Law(law)

lemon(1) (iou)



lemon noun1, adjective, & verb. LME.

A. noun.
The ovate pale yellow acid fruit of the tree Citrus limon, much used for making drinks and as a flavouring. LME.
The tree which bears this fruit, a widely cultivated member of the rue family. Also lemon tree. E17.
Preceded by specifying word: any of several other plants bearing yellow fruit like lemons. M18.
The colour of a lemon; pale yellow. L18.
a. Formerly, a person with a tart or snappy disposition. Now usu., a simpleton, a loser; a person easily deluded or taken advantage of. slang. M19.
b. A thing which is bad, unsatisfactory, or disappointing; esp. a substandard or defective car. slang (orig. US). E20.
c. The head. slang. E20.
d. An informer, a person who turns State's evidence. US slang. M20.
A lemon-flavoured soft drink; lemonade, lemon juice. L19.
Phrases etc.: hand a person a lemon pass off a substandard article as good; swindle a person, do a person down. oranges and lemons: see ORANGE noun. salt of lemon: see SALT noun1 2c. sweet lemon: see SWEET adjective & adverb. the answer is a lemon a reply is unsatisfactory or non-existent. water lemon: see WATER noun.
b. adjective. Of or resembling the colour, flavour, or fragrance of a lemon; pale yellow. M17.
Comb. & special collocations: lemon balm: see BALM noun1 6; lemon cheese a conserve made from lemons, butter, eggs, and sugar; lemon-colour (of) a pale yellow; lemon-coloured adjective pale yellow; lemon curd = lemon cheese above; lemon drop a boiled sweet flavoured with lemon; lemon-game US slang a type of confidence trick in which the victim is led to believe that he or she can win at pool against a player who is in fact expert; lemon geranium a pelargonium, Pelargonium crispum, grown for its lemon-scented leaves; lemon grass a lemon-scented grass, Cymbopogon citratus, native to southern India and Sri Lanka, which yields an oil used in perfumery and cookery; lemon law N. Amer. colloq. a law requiring the manufacturer or seller to repair or replace a defective car; lemon meringue (pie) an open pie consisting of a pastry case with a lemon filling and a topping of meringue; lemon oil an essential oil obtained from the rind of lemons, used in cooking and perfumery; lemon plant = lemon verbena below; lemon-scented adjective having a smell suggestive of lemons; lemon-scented verbena = lemon verbena below; lemon squash a drink made from lemons and other ingredients, often sold in concentrated form; lemon-squeezer (a) an instrument for extracting the juice from a lemon; (b) Austral. & NZ colloq. a hat with a peaked crown and broad flat brim, worn by New Zealand troops; lemon thyme a lemon-scented cultivated variety of thyme, Thymus citriodorus, grown as a herb; lemon verbena a S. American shrub of the verbena family, Aloysia triphylla, grown for its lemon-scented leaves; lemonwood (a) NZ a small New Zealand evergreen tree, Pittosporum eugenioides (family Pittosporaceae), with leaves that are fragrant when crushed; (b) (the light-coloured wood of) any of several tropical American trees, esp. the Cuban Calycophyllum candidissimum, of the madder family; lemon yellow (of) a pale yellow.
C. verb trans. Flavour with lemon. M18.
lemonish adjective somewhat resembling the colour, flavour, or fragrance of a lemon E18.