Green’s Dictionary of Slang

(Aus./US) energetically, enthusiastically; usu. as go in lemons.

1848		Satirist & Blade (Boston, MA) 19 Feb. n.p.: Where was Pinkey? Go in lemons.
1850		Sydney Morn. Herald 10 June 3/1: Hevery lady ’ere knows as a man makes a much moro decent ap- arance m a clean shirt nor a dirty one And I goes in for ’em, (Cries of ‘go in, lemons!’ ‘That’s the talk!’ ‘Go it Rogers!’).
1854		F. St. Clair Six Days in the Metropolis 75: Go it, Lize. Go it while your [sic] young [...] go in, lemons!
1867		J. Poole Ye Comedie of Errors I ii: Then, ‘go in, lemons,’ give him a good lamming.
1870		Leader (Melbourne) 5 Nov. 10/2: My advice to them is to ‘go in lemons,’ and obtain a place of importance in the cricketing world.
1872		G.S. Baden-Powell New Homes for Old Country 186: A boy, as soon as he gets old enough and strong enough to manage a horse, delights in mustering. He will then, in his Australian, ‘go in big lemons’ whenever he gets the chance [AND].
1874		‘English Sl.’ in Eve. Telegram (N.Y.) 9 Dec. 1/5: Let us present a few specimens:– [...] ‘Go it lemons.’.
1880		Northern Argus (Clare, SA) 20 July 3/1: Added to this was the apparent determination to ‘go in lemons,’ as the saying is, on the part of ever; individual member of the club.
1886		H.W.H. Stephen Lily’s Fortune 8: Mother Grabbles had not had such a chance for many a year, and ‘went in lemons’ [AND].
1895		Dly. Teleg. (Launcston, Tas.) 5 Jan. 5/6: Coningham was the next man, and [...] the crowd advised him to ‘Go in lemons.’ ‘No! go in bananas, Conny,’ said someone better acquainted with Brisbane horticulture.
c.1905		J. Furphy Rigby’s Romance (1921) Ch. xiv: 🌐 I drops like a cock, jumps up agen, an’ goes for him like lemons.
1915		Punch (Melbourne 3 June 2/3: Caution in strategy, celerity in tactics. [...] Having settled your policy, go in lemons.
1923		Grenfell Record (NSW) 23 Aug. 2/7: We would not be fools enough to continue on the selling side of the show, but would be going in lemons for buying wool.
1935		Mudgee Guardian (NSW) 24 Jan. 13/3: Let him therefore put away the wildness of hobbledehoy-hood, and go In lemons, not for any mealy-mouthed Joe Surface-ism, but for a decorousness of demeanor.
1948		Bulletin (Sydney) 8 Dec. 12/2: A tall bloke in a striped sweater comes up, takes a screw at the bottle an’ starts goin’ lemons because he was wantin’ gin.