Definitions
from The Century Dictionary.
- noun A twig smeared with bird-lime; hence, that which catches; a snare; a beguiling trick or device.
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.
- noun A twig used for
catching birds that issmeared with birdlime.
Etymologies
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License
Used in English around the 15th century. Compound of lime and twig, with lime referring to birdlime.
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Examples
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An ant catching its feet on the miniature lime-twig, at first raises one foot after another and draws it through its mouth, hoping to rid it of the sticky stuff, but only with the result of gluing up its head and other parts of the body.
Wild Flowers Worth Knowing Neltje Blanchan 1891
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I think I could say something about him myself -- but Lord bless me -- these "merchants and their spicy drugs" which are so harmonious to sing of, they lime-twig up my poor soul and body, till I shall forget I ever thought myself a bit of a genius!
The Works of Charles and Mary Lamb — Volume 5 The Letters of Charles and Mary Lamb Mary Lamb 1805
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