LIME

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 Dictionary entry overview: What does lime mean? 

• LIME (noun)
  The noun LIME has 6 senses:

1. a caustic substance produced by heating limestone

2. a white crystalline oxide used in the production of calcium hydroxide

3. a sticky adhesive that is smeared on small branches to capture small birds

4. any of various related trees bearing limes

5. any of various deciduous trees of the genus Tilia with heart-shaped leaves and drooping cymose clusters of yellowish often fragrant flowers; several yield valuable timber

6. the green acidic fruit of any of various lime trees

  Familiarity information: LIME used as a noun is common.

• LIME (verb)
  The verb LIME has 2 senses:

1. spread birdlime on branches to catch birds

2. cover with lime so as to induce growth

  Familiarity information: LIME used as a verb is rare.

 Dictionary entry details 

• LIME (noun)

Sense 1

Meaning:

A caustic substance produced by heating limestone

Classified under:

Nouns denoting substances

Synonyms:

calcium hydrate; calcium hydroxide; caustic lime; hydrated lime; lime; lime hydrate; slaked lime

Hypernyms ("lime" is a kind of...):

hydrated oxide; hydroxide (a compound of an oxide with water)

Derivation:

lime (cover with lime so as to induce growth)

Sense 2

Meaning:

A white crystalline oxide used in the production of calcium hydroxide

Classified under:

Nouns denoting substances

Synonyms:

burnt lime; calcined lime; calcium oxide; calx; fluxing lime; lime; quicklime; unslaked lime

Hypernyms ("lime" is a kind of...):

oxide (any compound of oxygen with another element or a radical)

Meronyms (substance of "lime"):

atomic number 20; Ca; calcium (a white metallic element that burns with a brilliant light; the fifth most abundant element in the earth's crust; an important component of most plants and animals)

Derivation:

lime (cover with lime so as to induce growth)

Sense 3

Meaning:

A sticky adhesive that is smeared on small branches to capture small birds

Classified under:

Nouns denoting substances

Synonyms:

birdlime; lime

Hypernyms ("lime" is a kind of...):

adhesive; adhesive agent; adhesive material (a substance that unites or bonds surfaces together)

Derivation:

lime (spread birdlime on branches to catch birds)

Sense 4

Meaning:

Any of various related trees bearing limes

Classified under:

Nouns denoting plants

Synonyms:

Citrus aurantifolia; lime; lime tree

Hypernyms ("lime" is a kind of...):

citrus; citrus tree (any of numerous tropical usually thorny evergreen trees of the genus Citrus having leathery evergreen leaves and widely cultivated for their juicy edible fruits having leathery aromatic rinds)

Meronyms (parts of "lime"):

lime (the green acidic fruit of any of various lime trees)

Holonyms ("lime" is a member of...):

genus Citrus (orange; lemon; lime; etc.)

Sense 5

Meaning:

Any of various deciduous trees of the genus Tilia with heart-shaped leaves and drooping cymose clusters of yellowish often fragrant flowers; several yield valuable timber

Classified under:

Nouns denoting plants

Synonyms:

basswood; lime; lime tree; linden; linden tree

Hypernyms ("lime" is a kind of...):

tree (a tall perennial woody plant having a main trunk and branches forming a distinct elevated crown; includes both gymnosperms and angiosperms)

Meronyms (substance of "lime"):

basswood; linden (soft light-colored wood of any of various linden trees; used in making crates and boxes and in carving and millwork)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "lime"):

American basswood; American lime; Tilia americana (large American shade tree with large dark green leaves and rounded crown)

small-leaved lime; small-leaved linden; Tilia cordata (large spreading European linden with small dark green leaves; often cultivated as an ornamental)

cottonwood; Tilia heterophylla; white basswood (American basswood of the Allegheny region)

Japanese lime; Japanese linden; Tilia japonica (medium-sized tree of Japan used as an ornamental)

silver lime; silver linden; Tilia tomentosa (large tree native to eastern Europe and Asia Minor having leaves with white tomentum on the under side; widely cultivated as an ornamental)

Holonyms ("lime" is a member of...):

genus Tilia; Tilia (deciduous trees with smooth usually silver-grey bark of North America and Europe and Asia: lime trees; lindens; basswood)

Sense 6

Meaning:

The green acidic fruit of any of various lime trees

Classified under:

Nouns denoting foods and drinks

Hypernyms ("lime" is a kind of...):

citrous fruit; citrus; citrus fruit (any of numerous fruits of the genus Citrus having thick rind and juicy pulp; grown in warm regions)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "lime"):

key lime (small yellow-green limes of southern Florida)

Holonyms ("lime" is a part of...):

Citrus aurantifolia; lime; lime tree (any of various related trees bearing limes)

• LIME (verb)

Present simple: I / you / we / they lime    ... he / she / it limes   
Past simple: limed   
Past participle: limed   
-ing form: liming   

Sense 1

Meaning:

Spread birdlime on branches to catch birds

Classified under:

Verbs of walking, flying, swimming

Synonyms:

birdlime; lime

Hypernyms (to "lime" is one way to...):

scatter; spread; spread out (strew or distribute over an area)

Sentence frames:

Somebody ----s something
Somebody ----s something PP

Derivation:

lime (a sticky adhesive that is smeared on small branches to capture small birds)

Sense 2

Meaning:

Cover with lime so as to induce growth

Classified under:

Verbs of touching, hitting, tying, digging

Context example:

lime the lawn

Hypernyms (to "lime" is one way to...):

cover (provide with a covering or cause to be covered)

Sentence frame:

Somebody ----s something

Derivation:

lime (a white crystalline oxide used in the production of calcium hydroxide)

lime (a caustic substance produced by heating limestone)

 Context examples 

Clearly, and for the first lime, he saw Ruth and her world.

(Martin Eden, by Jack London)

"That's good! I wish all the girls would leave, and spoil his old school. It's perfectly maddening to think of those lovely limes," sighed Amy, with the air of a martyr.

(Little Women, by Louisa May Alcott)

A characteristic of a medicinal product, specifying that its most predominant agreeable savor detected by the unified sensation of taste and olfactory receptors resembles lime.

(Lime Flavor, NCI Thesaurus)

Some are gone to the ponds, and some to the lime walk.

(Emma, by Jane Austen)

Lime oil can be taken as an antioxidant and may help support immune health.

(Lime Oil, NCI Thesaurus)

Late in the afternoon he followed a stream, milky with lime, which ran through sparse patches of rush-grass.

(Love of Life and Other Stories, by Jack London)

Treatments to remove arsenic contamination, mostly associated with water drawn from deep, subterranean sources using borewells, include the use of lime, various coagulants, osmotic membrane filters or ion exchange processes.

(Watermelon rind a cheap filter for arsenic in groundwater, SciDev.Net)

His sight having been injured in his early wars by a basketful of lime which had been emptied over him when he led the Earl of Derby's stormers up the breach at Bergerac, he had contracted something of a stoop, with a blinking, peering expression of face.

(The White Company, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

"Bring with you the limes you have in your desk," was the unexpected command which arrested her before she got out of her seat.

(Little Women, by Louisa May Alcott)

It was hot; and after walking some time over the gardens in a scattered, dispersed way, scarcely any three together, they insensibly followed one another to the delicious shade of a broad short avenue of limes, which stretching beyond the garden at an equal distance from the river, seemed the finish of the pleasure grounds.

(Emma, by Jane Austen)