limed, ppl. a.
(laɪmd)
[f. lime v.1 + -ed1.]
1. Smeared with birdlime (or other sticky substance); † fig. said of hands given to pilfering.
| c 13.. Seuyn Sages (W.) 1280 The wise man dede make a dich Ful of lim and of pich, The fader lep in bifore, Into the limed diche. 1399 Langl. Rich. Redeles ii. 186 Lymed leues were leyde all aboute. 1563 B. Googe Eglogs vi. (Arb.) 54 Somtime I wold betraye the Byrds, that lyght on lymed tree. 1583 Stubbes Anat. Abus. ii. (1882) 38 Men..who haue limed fingers, liuing vpon pilfering. 1602 Shakes. Ham. iii. iii. 68 Oh limed soule, that strugling to be free, Art more ingag'd. 1720 Gay Dione ii. v. Poems II. 467 On the lim'd twig thus finches beat their wings. 1849 James Woodman ii, There are limed twigs about them, my child. |
2. a. Dressed or treated with lime.
| 1707–12 Mortimer Husb. ii. Suppl. i. vii. 36 All sort of Peas love limed or marled Land. 1770–4 A. Hunter Georg. Ess. (1803) I. 30 Clay, well limed, will fall in winter. 1898 Trans. Highl. & Agric. Soc. Scotl. 91 On limed land, too, Agrostis is eaten by stock. |
b. Of wood, esp. oak, that is treated with lime to give it a bleached effect.
| 1930 Heal & Son Catal. 17 Twin Bedsteads in Limed Oak. 1933 Archit. Rev. LXXIII. June 230 The Holy Table is in waxed and limed oak. 1952 J. Gloag Short Dict. Furnit. 311 Limed oak, oak that has been pickled with a coating of lime... Limed oak surfaces are generally left unpolished. 1957 N.Z. Timber Jrnl. Oct. 73/1 Limed oak, chloride of lime and water applied to oak furniture to produce a bleached effect. 1973 A. Roos Dunfermline Affair 162 The limed-oak furniture was all built in. Wardrobe, vanity units, dressing-tables. |