lime

Definitions

1. 1.Birdlime. Like the lime That foolish birds are caught with. Wordsworth.
2. 2.(Chem.) Oxide of calcium; the white or gray, caustic substance, usually called quicklime, obtained by calcining limestone or shells, the heat driving off carbon dioxide and leaving lime. It develops great heat when treated with water, forming slacked lime, and is an essential ingredient of cement, plastering, mortar, etc.CaO Note: Lime is the principal constituent of limestone, marble, chalk, bones, shells, etc. Caustic lime, calcium hydrate or slacked lime; also, in a less technical sense, calcium oxide or quicklime. -- Lime burner, one who burns limestone, shells, etc., to make lime. -- Lime light. See Calcium light under Calcium. -- Lime pit, a limestone quarry. -- Lime rod, Lime twig, a twig smeared with birdlime; hence, that which catches; a snare. Chaucer.
3. 3.To smear with a viscous substance, as birdlime. These twigs, in time, will come to be limed. L'Estrange.
4. 4.To entangle; to insnare. We had limed ourselves With open eyes, and we must take the chance. Tennyson.
5. 5.To treat with lime, or oxide or hydrate of calcium; to manure with lime; as, to lime hides for removing the hair; to lime sails in order to whiten them. Land may be improved by draining, marling, and liming. Sir J. Child.
6. 6.To cement. "Who gave his blood to lime the stones together." Shak.

Source: Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913 edition (public domain, via GCIDE / Project Gutenberg).

Related questions

• What does "lime" mean?

Reverse-dictionary questions

Definition-first questions whose answer is lime.

• What is birdlime. Like the lime That foolish birds are caught with. Wordsworth called?
• What is to smear with a viscous substance, as birdlime. These twigs, in time, will come to be limed. L'Estrange called?
• What is to entangle; to insnare. We had limed ourselves With open eyes, and we must take the chance. Tennyson called?
• What is to cement. "Who gave his blood to lime the stones together." Shak called?