lemon

«lemon» in Mova's school dictionary: an oval yellow fruit with sour juice and thick peel — its meaning for a pupil, its sense in the lessons and examples, with 5 sentences of Mova's corpora that use it.

part of speech

noun (a lemon, lemons; lemon — uncountable as flavour or colour); adjective (lemon = pale yellow; lemon-flavoured)

meaning for a pupil

1) A lemon is an oval yellow fruit with sour juice and thick peel. tree →

2) Lemon is the taste or colour of this fruit: lemon cake, lemon yellow. tree →

3) Informally, a lemon is something, often a car, that does not work properly. tree →

sense in the lessons

In everyday life lemons are used in drinks, cakes and cooking; lemonade stalls are a classic children's way to earn money. In science lessons lemon juice is an acid (it turns red cabbage indicator pink), it can power a tiny lemon battery, and it can be used as invisible ink. In maths problems lemons are counted and priced. Phrases: «a slice of lemon», «lemon juice», «squeeze a lemon», «when life gives you lemons, make lemonade» (make the best of a bad situation).

examples

• Squeeze a lemon into the water. tree →
• Lemons taste very sour. tree →
• Mum made a lemon drizzle cake. tree →
• Lemon juice is an acid. tree →
• We wrote secret messages with lemon juice. tree →
• Lemons cost 30 cents each, so 5 lemons cost $1.50. tree →
• She painted her room lemon yellow. tree →
• When life gives you lemons, make lemonade! tree →

note

Countable for the fruit (three lemons), uncountable for the flavour (some lemon). Lemon ≠ lime: a lime is smaller and green. Safety: lemon juice stings in cuts and eyes; acid can harm tooth enamel if you suck lemons often.

In the corpora

• Suck a slice of lemon and your whole face screws up.
• That sharp, sour taste is the taste of an acid: lemons are full of citric acid.
• Squeeze lemon into warm milk and it suddenly forms lumps: the acid makes the milk's proteins clump together.
• Sour tastes come from acids; lemons contain citric acid, and sour sweets are dusted with acid powder that stings the tongue.
• Acidic food, like tomato or lemon, makes a sore spot in the mouth sting.

Trees and pragmatics

Every meaning and example of «lemon» parsed by Mova, each sentence with its dependency tree and frames.