rough lemon
Americannoun
Etymology
Origin of rough lemon
First recorded in 1895–1900
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
Plant a lime seed and up comes a kumquat, or, with equal odds, a Seville orange, not to mention a rough lemon or a tangerine.
From The New Yorker • Sep. 14, 2015
Eventually tackling citron, he discovered that it could survive California's climate when grafted to the rough lemon.
From Time Magazine Archive
“If we don’t, the Golden Dawns are dead, and we got ourselves a thousand rough lemon trees.”
From "Tangerine" by Edward Bloor
“The rough lemon is totally worthless in the supermarket, and yet there is no more valuable tree out here in the nursery.”
From "Tangerine" by Edward Bloor
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
