Green’s Dictionary of Slang

1. (orig. Aus.) an English person or sailing ship.

1916		Hall & Niles One Man’s War (1929) 186: Now we get even with the Limies.
1927		(con. 1918) J. Stevens Mattock 261: Everybody was disgusted with the Frogs and Limeys.
1930		(con. 1900s–10s) Dos Passos 42nd Parallel in USA (1966) 145: I deserted in B.A., see, and shipped out East on a limey, on an English boat.
1933		J. Spenser Limey 3: They just call me ‘Limey’ (Englishman).
1941		V. Davis Phenomena in Crime 63: Headquarters think he’s a Limey.
1949		Derby Dly Teleg. 7 Nov. 3/4: Canadian soldiers are to wear ‘Canada’ badges [...] so that American sailors will not mistake them for Britons and call them ‘Limeys’.
1954		G. Lamming Emigrants (1980) 75: You never had dealings with limeys an’ you doan’ know what they can do.
1960		‘Nino Culotta’ Cop This Lot 37: Ignorant mob, ain’t they? [...] Callin’ a bloke a Limey.
1970		L. Bangs in Psychotic Reactions (1988) 32: Drug-addled effeminate Limeys who once collected blues 78s.
1983		‘Heat Moon’ Blue Highways 365: You Limeys just kill me.
1986		R.G. Barrett Godson 289: ‘That’s one thing I’ll never do, Pezz. Call you a limey. You’ll always be a rotten pom to me’.
1999		Guardian Rev. 16 July 6: Hell, no limey: it’s Hong Kong, cigarette.
2005		Guardian G2 5 May 4: At last the limeys have learned something about negative campaigning.
2019		S.M. Jones Lives Laid Away [ebook] ‘[F]rankly, I just don’t like limeys’.

2. (W.I.) a derog. term for a disreputable white person of lower class.

1999

Guardian Guide 9–15 Oct. 12: The slumming limeys who tend to fill out the margins of movies like these.

3. the English language.

1958

(con. 1950) E. Frankel Band of Brothers 220: You slant-eyed, limey-talkin’, chop-suey-eatin’, laundry-washin’, nose-pickin’ sonovabitch!

4. (US short order) an English muffin.

1966

in Newark (OH) Advocate 21 May 3/3–4: burn a limey – toasted English muffin.