bitter lemon
- noun
:
limón amargo
- Some people enjoy mixing gin with bitter lemon for a refreshing cocktail.
Examples
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I enjoy a cold bitter lemon on hot days.
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The bar offers both tonic water and bitter lemon as popular mixers.
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She ordered a bitter lemon with her lunch at the café.
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Can you pass me a bitter lemon?
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She enjoyed a refreshing glass of bitter lemon on a hot summer day.
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Many people like to mix bitter lemon with their cocktails for an added zing.
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After a long workout, he treated himself to a chilled can of bitter lemon.
Synonyms
40
1.0
A drink without alcohol that has bubbles, like soda or lemonade
Surface Forms
Morphology
The meaning is directly and transparently derived from combining 'bitter' (having an acrid, sharp taste) with 'lemon' (the citrus fruit), referring to a lemon-flavored item that tastes bitter. As a descriptive adjective+noun compound that names a beverage, it follows common composition patterns and has parallels in other languages, so a B1 learner who knows the constituent words would readily infer the meaning.
Etymology
The drink bitter lemon is named for its taste: the words bitter and lemon describe fizzy lemon water with a sharp, slightly bitter edge. Because that tart, bitter flavour mixes well with alcohol, people used it as a 'mixer', so the name tells you both the flavour and the drink you can enjoy on its own.