Lem"on (?), n. [F. limon, Per. limn; cf. Ar.laimn, Sp. limon, It. limone. Cf. Lime a fruit.]
1. Bot.
An oval or roundish fruit resembling the orange, and containing a pulp usually intensely acid. It is produced by a tropical tree of the genus Citrus,the common fruit known in commerce being that of the species C. Limonum or C. Medica (var. Limonum). There are many varieties of the fruit, some of which are sweet.
2.
The tree which bears lemons; the lemon tree.
Lemon grass Bot., a fragrant East Indian grass (Andropogon Shenanthus, and perhaps other allied species), which yields the grass oil used in perfumery. -- Lemon sole Zool., a yellow European sole (Solea aurantiaca). -- Salts of lemon Chem., a white crystalline substance, inappropriately named, as it consists of an acid potassium oxalate and contains no citric acid, which is the characteristic acid of lemon; -- called also salis of sorrel. It is used in removing ink stains. See Oxalic acid, under Oxalic. [Colloq.]
<-- Lemon adj. 1. of the color lemon-yellow. 2. of or relating to lemons, as lemon pie. -->
© Webster 1913.