Idiom
suck a lemon
Meaning
To be in a sour or negative mood.
Meaning adapted from Wiktionary, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
Examples
“He looks like he is sucking a lemon today.”
“She has been sucking a lemon all morning, so it is best to leave her alone.”
“Despite the festive atmosphere of the celebration, he stood in the corner sucking a lemon, clearly unimpressed by the joy surrounding him.”
Examples
simple
“He looks like he is sucking a lemon today.”
contextual
“She has been sucking a lemon all morning, so it is best to leave her alone.”
complex
“Despite the festive atmosphere of the celebration, he stood in the corner sucking a lemon, clearly unimpressed by the joy surrounding him.”
Origin
The phrase derives from the involuntary facial contraction, or grimace, typically produced by the tartness of a lemon's citric acid.
Key words
Related idioms
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