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Glite Dictionary
limey

limey

11 9.9
A British person, often a sailor, used as slang and sometimes offensive
  • noun
  • /ˈlaɪmi/
  • Slur
: [término ofensivo para británico]
  • Another limey here, it's encouraging to hear our problems get raised over in the US.
  • limey scum
  • limey motherfucker
  • limey bastard

I'm here to represent all my fellow Limeys.

Examples

  • You limeys can be pretty touchy about trespassing.

    Dr. No (1962)

  • In America, it was the limeys who were supposed to have the monopoly on dirt.

    Fiction book (1990)

  • What is that, a limey accent and a frog name?

    The Debt Collector (2018)

  • Well, my Limey friend, your prayers have been answered with the help of some major.

    Blog text (13)

  • First, those Limey sailors.

    Fiction book (1995)

  • In movies, a tough Limey sailor often saves the day with quick wit.

  • He jokingly called his British friend a Limey during their game of poker.

  • The group laughed when they heard a Limey accent in the foreign film.

Synonyms

John Bull
vslimey
  • Literature
1 9.3

A character who stands for England or a typical English person

is an informal and sometimes offensive label for a British person often a sailor

Surface Forms

limey singular
limeys plural

Morphology

limey = lime (opaque) = lime + y

Although formally lime + -y, the slang meaning 'British sailor/person' is historically cultural and not deducible from the fruit 'lime'.

Etymology

The word limey comes from when British sailors long ago ate or were given limes to stop 'scurvy', and people abroad began calling them 'limeys' for that. So limey became a nickname for a British person, often a sailor, though it is slang and can be offensive.