lemons

1. 1
   noun

   Plural of lemon.

   The market stall displayed crates of bright yellow lemons.

   He picked the ripest lemons from the tree behind the house.

   Note

   The ordinary plural, made with a plain -s, serves nearly every meaning of lemon at once: the fruits, the trees that bear them, lemon sharks, and in slang the duds, meaning items or people that turn out defective. The juice is the exception. As a mass noun it takes no plural, so a recipe asks for more lemon juice rather than more lemons. The same spelling is also the verb for flavoring with lemon.

2. 2
   verb

   Third-person singular simple present of lemon.

   The chef lemons each portion of grilled chicken just before plating.

   Whenever she bakes, she lemons the batter to brighten the flavor.

   Note

   A cook's verb in its he-and-she form: to lemon something is to flavor it with lemon, and the verb always takes an object, as in she lemons the tea or he lemons the fish. It is spelled exactly like the plural noun, and position tells them apart. After a singular subject and before the thing being flavored, it is the verb.

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