lamb
English edit
Etymology edit
From Middle English lamb, from Old English lamb, from Proto-West Germanic *lamb, from Proto-Germanic *lambaz, probably from Proto-Indo-European *h₁l̥h₁onbʰos, enlargement of *h₁elh₁én, ultimately from *h₁el-.
See also Dutch lam, German Lamm, Bavarian Lamperl, Swedish lamm, Finnish lammas, Scottish Gaelic lon (“elk”), Ancient Greek ἔλαφος (élaphos, “red deer”). More at elk.
Pronunciation edit
Noun edit
lamb (countable and uncountable, plural lambs or (both dialectal) lamber or lambren)
- A young sheep.
- Synonym: sheepling
- (uncountable) The flesh of a lamb or sheep used as food.
- (figuratively) A person who is meek, docile and easily led.
- Lambskin.
- 1934, Kay Boyle, My Next Bride, Virago, published 1986, page 8:
- They were as alike as prisoners, dressed in black silk waists and fitted skirts, with shawls of crimped black lamb across their shoulders.
- A simple, unsophisticated person.
- (finance, slang) One who ignorantly speculates on the stock exchange and is victimized.
- (slang) A fan of American singer, songwriter, actress, and record producer Mariah Carey (born 1969).
- 2003, Bust, page 88:
- Part of me revels in the campiness of Mariah’s butterfly metaphors and puppies-and-kittens existence. […] But I also genuinely love her music, including this album. I’m one of her lambs.
- 2010 February 15, Greg Kot, “Mimi cuts loose: Mariah Carey concert at Chicago Theatre shows that the diva can laugh at herself”, in Chicago Tribune, 163rd year, number 46, section 3, page 6:
- Her latest album, “Memoirs of an Imperfect Angel,” is her best work yet, a warmer and more subtle album that makes her more relatable to those of us who aren’t Mariah die-hards—or “lambs,” as she refers to them.
- 2019 January 3, Rich Juzwiak, “In Praise of Their Diva”, in The New York Times, section D, page 1:
- This year, Ms. Carey debuted a new Las Vegas revue, and, to celebrate, a group of 36 “lambs,” mostly in their 30s and 40s, boarded a party bus and cruised the Vegas strip for about three hours.
- 2020 February 25, Chris Azzopardi, “I Love You (But Do You Love Mariah Carey?)”, in The New York Times[1]:
- But when I saw Mariah in Detroit last year during the Caution World Tour, I was a proud lamb in my tour T-shirt, my very adult body suddenly transformed into my 14-year-old self when she emerged onstage.
- For more quotations using this term, see Citations:lamb.
Derived terms edit
- baa-lamb
- bar-lamb
- beaver lamb
- ewe lamb
- gentle as a lamb
- house lamb
- in-lamb
- in like a lion, out like a lamb
- innocent as a lamb
- in two shakes of a lamb's tail
- lamb-ale
- lambchop
- lamber
- Lambeth
- lamb fries
- lambie
- lambiness
- lambing
- lambing season
- lambish
- lambkill
- lambkin
- lambless
- lamblike
- lambling
- lamb of Tartary
- lamb pie
- lamb's bread
- lamb's ears
- lamb's fries
- lambskin
- lamb's lettuce
- lamb's quarters
- lamb's tongue
- lamb succory
- lambswool
- lamb to the slaughter/like a lamb to the slaughter/come like a lamb to the slaughter/as a lamb to the slaughter
- lamburger
- lamby
- March comes in like a lion and goes out like a lamb
- mutton dressed as lamb, mutton dressed up as lamb
- one may as well hang for a sheep as a lamb
- Paschal Lamb, paschal lamb
- sacrificial lamb
- Scythian lamb
- skin the lamb
- Tartarian lamb
- tod and lambs
- vegetable lamb
Translations edit
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Verb edit
lamb (third-person singular simple present lambs, present participle lambing, simple past and past participle lambed)
- (intransitive) Of a sheep, to give birth.
- (transitive or intransitive) To assist (sheep) to give birth.
- The shepherd was up all night, lambing her young ewes.
Translations edit
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Anagrams edit
Faroese edit
Etymology edit
From Old Norse lamb, from Proto-Germanic *lambaz.
Noun edit
lamb n (genitive singular lambs, plural lomb)
- lamb (both the animal and meat)
- kid (baby goat)
- (playing cards, stýrivolt) seven of the chosen cards (trump seven)
Declension edit
n8 | Singular | Plural | ||
Indefinite | Definite | Indefinite | Definite | |
Nominative | lamb | lambið | lomb | lombini |
Accusative | lamb | lambið | lomb | lombini |
Dative | lambi | lambinum | lombum | lombunum |
Genitive | lambs | lambsins | lamba | lambanna |
Derived terms edit
- gimburlamb (female lamb)
- veðurlamb (male lamb)
Gothic edit
Romanization edit
lamb
- Romanization of 𐌻𐌰𐌼𐌱
Icelandic edit
Etymology edit
From Old Norse lamb, from Proto-Germanic *lambaz.
Pronunciation edit
Noun edit
lamb n (genitive singular lambs, nominative plural lömb)
- a lamb
Declension edit
Derived terms edit
- launa lambið gráa
- ljúfur sem lamb
- vatna lömbum (compare the Old Norse krjúpa at keldu)
Middle English edit
Alternative forms edit
Etymology edit
From Old English lamb, from Proto-West Germanic *lamb, from Proto-Germanic *lambaz.
Pronunciation edit
Noun edit
lamb (plural lambren or lamber or lambes)
Descendants edit
References edit
- “lō̆mb, n.”, in MED Online, Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Michigan, 2007.
Norwegian Nynorsk edit
Etymology edit
Noun edit
lamb n (definite singular lambet, definite singular dative lambe, indefinite plural lamb or lomb, definite plural lambi or lombi, definite plural dative lambom or lombom)
- a lamb (young sheep); (pre-1938) alternative form of lam
- (by extension, Christianity, figurative) Christ as sacrificial lamb
Inflection edit
Historical inflection of lamb
Forms in italics are currently considered non-standard. Forms in [brackets] were official, but considered second-tier. Forms in (parentheses) were allowed under Midlandsnormalen. 1Nouns were capitalised for most of the 19th century. |
Derived terms edit
Old English edit
Alternative forms edit
Etymology edit
From Proto-Germanic *lambaz.
Pronunciation edit
Noun edit
lamb n (nominative plural lambru)
Declension edit
West Saxon:
Anglian:
Descendants edit
Old High German edit
Etymology edit
From Proto-West Germanic *lamb, see also Old Saxon lamb, Old English lamb, Old Norse lamb, Gothic 𐌻𐌰𐌼𐌱 (lamb).
Noun edit
lamb n
Declension edit
singular | plural | |
---|---|---|
nominative | lamb | lembir |
accusative | lamb | lembir |
genitive | lambes | lembiro |
dative | lambe | lembirum, lembirom |
instrumental | lambu, lambo | lembirum, lembirom |
Descendants edit
References edit
- Köbler, Gerhard, Althochdeutsches Wörterbuch, (6. Auflage) 2014
- Joseph Wright, An Old High German Primer, Second Edition
Old Norse edit
Etymology edit
From Proto-Germanic *lambaz.
Noun edit
lamb n (genitive lambs, plural lǫmb)
- a lamb
Declension edit
Descendants edit
Old Saxon edit
Etymology edit
From Proto-West Germanic *lamb.
Noun edit
lamb n
Declension edit
singular | plural | |
---|---|---|
nominative | lamb | lambiru |
accusative | lamb | lambiru |
genitive | lambes | lambirō |
dative | lambe | lambirum |
instrumental | — | — |
Descendants edit
- Low German: Lamm