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lime1

Pronunciation: /lʌɪm/
Translate lime | into French | into German | into Italian | into Spanish
Definition of lime

noun

  • 1 (also quicklime) [mass noun] a white caustic alkaline substance consisting of calcium oxide, which is obtained by heating limestone and which combines with water with the production of much heat.
  • (also slaked lime) a white alkaline substance consisting of calcium hydroxide, made by adding water to quicklime and used in traditional building methods to make plaster, mortar, and limewash.
  • (in general use) any of a number of calcium compounds, especially calcium hydroxide, used as an additive to soil or water.
  • 2 archaic birdlime.

verb

[with object]
  • 1treat (soil or water) with lime to reduce acidity and improve fertility or oxygen levels: they were liming acidified lakes
  • (often as adjective limed) give (wood) a bleached appearance by treating it with lime:limed oak dining furniture
  • 2 archaic catch (a bird) with birdlime: the bird that hath been limed in a bush

Derivatives

limy

adjective (limier, limiest)

Origin:

Old English līm, of Germanic origin; related to Dutch lijm, German Leim, also to loam

lime in other Oxford dictionaries

Definition of lime in the US English dictionary

Nearby words

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