Wiktionary

lemming

See also: lèmming and Lemming

English edit

 
English Wikipedia has an article on:
Wikipedia
Wikispecies has information on:

Wikispecies

Etymology edit

From Danish and Norwegian lemming, from Old Norse lómundr, læmingi, læmingr (“lemming”), perhaps from Sami luomek.

 
A lemming.

Pronunciation edit

  • (UK) IPA(key): /lɛm.ɪŋ/
  • Audio (Southern England)(file)
  • Rhymes: -ɛmɪŋ

Noun edit

lemming (plural lemmings)

  1. A small Arctic and Subarctic rodent from any of six genera of similar rodents.
    • 1876, Alfred Russel Wallace, The Geographical Distribution of Animals, chapter 2, page 18:
      The well-known lemmings, in severe winters, at long intervals, move down from the mountains of Scandinavia in immense numbers, crossing lakes and rivers, eating their way through haystacks, and surmounting every obstacle till they reach the sea, whence very few return.
    • 2014, M.P. Fedunkiw, A Degree of Futility‎[1], page 61:
      Like a lemming, I followed the crowd, got to the right line and was concentrating hard when queried by the customs officer.
  2. (figuratively) Any member of a group given to conformity or groupthink, especially a group poised to follow a leader off a cliff.
    • 2004, Ilse Hobbs, Jan Havenga, A Practical Guide to Strategy, →ISBN, page 127:
      Lemmings are strongly cohesive, but could be, in organisational terms, highly destructive for the business.

Synonyms edit

Derived terms edit

Translations edit

Dutch edit

Etymology edit

From Danish and Norwegian lemming, from Old Norse lómundr, læmingi, læmingr (“lemming”), perhaps from Sami luomek.

Pronunciation edit

Noun edit

lemming m (plural lemmingen or lemmings, diminutive lemminkje n)

  1. lemming (rodent)

Further reading edit

Anagrams edit

French edit

 
French Wikipedia has an article on:
Wikipedia fr

Etymology edit

From Danish and Norwegian lemming, from Old Norse lómundr, læmingi, læmingr (“lemming”), perhaps from Sami luomek.

Pronunciation edit

Noun edit

lemming m (plural lemmings)

  1. lemming

Further reading edit

Portuguese edit

Etymology edit

Unadapted borrowing from English lemming.

Pronunciation edit

 

Noun edit

lemming m (plural lemmings)

  1. Alternative form of lémingue

Spanish edit

Etymology edit

From Danish and Norwegian lemming, from Old Norse lómundr, læmingi, læmingr (“lemming”), perhaps from Sami luomek.

Noun edit

lemming m (plural lemmings)

  1. lemming (rodent)
Retrieved from "https://en.wiktionary.org/w/index.php?title=lemming&oldid=78889394"