lamb

[lam] /læm/
noun
1.
a young sheep.
2.
the meat of a young sheep.
3.
a person who is gentle, meek, innocent, etc.:
Their little daughter is such a lamb.
4.
a person who is easily cheated or outsmarted, especially an inexperienced speculator.
5.
the Lamb, Christ.
verb (used without object)
6.
to give birth to a lamb.
Origin
before 900; Middle English, Old English; cognate with Dutch lam, German Lamm, Old Norse, Gothic lamb; akin to Greek élaphos deer. See elk
Can be confused
lam, lamb.

Lamb

[lam] /læm/
noun
1.
Charles ("Elia") 1775–1834, English essayist and critic.
2.
Harold A. 1892–1962, U.S. novelist.
3.
Mary Ann, 1764–1847, English author who wrote in collaboration with her brother Charles Lamb.
4.
William, 2nd Viscount Melbourne, 1779–1848, English statesman: prime minister 1834, 1835–41.
5.
Willis E(ugene), Jr. 1913–2008, U.S. physicist: Nobel Prize 1955.
Examples from the web for lamb
  • Awe for the tiger, love for the lamb a chronicle of sensibility to animals.
  • After this period of recovery lamb began to take lessons from mrs.
  • lamb lived under the poetic shadow of his more talented friend coleridge.
  • In the middle east, it is often used in savoury dishes of chicken and lamb.
  • There are farms with beef and dairy cattle, pigs, sheep and lamb stock.
British Dictionary definitions for lamb

lamb

/læm/
noun
1.
the young of a sheep
2.
the meat of a young sheep
3.
a person, esp a child, who is innocent, meek, good, etc
4.
a person easily deceived
5.
like a lamb to the slaughter
  1. without resistance
  2. innocently
verb
6.
(intransitive) Also lamb down. (of a ewe) to give birth
7.
(transitive; used in the passive) (of a lamb) to be born
8.
(intransitive) (of a shepherd) to tend the ewes and newborn lambs at lambing time
See also lamb down
Derived Forms
lamblike, adjective
Word Origin
Old English lamb, from Germanic; compare German Lamm, Old High German and Old Norse lamb

Lamb1

/læm/
noun
1.
the Lamb, a title given to Christ in the New Testament

Lamb2

/læm/
noun
1.
Charles, pen name Elia. 1775–1834, English essayist and critic. He collaborated with his sister Mary on Tales from Shakespeare (1807). His other works include Specimens of English Dramatic Poets (1808) and the largely autobiographical essays collected in Essays of Elia (1823; 1833)
2.
William. See (2nd Viscount) Melbourne2
3.
Willis Eugene. 1913–2008, US physicist. He detected the small difference in energy between two states of the hydrogen atom (Lamb shift). Nobel prize for physics 1955
Word Origin and History for lamb
n.

Old English lamb "lamb," from Proto-Germanic *lambaz (cf. Old Norse, Old Frisian, Gothic lamb, Middle Dutch, Dutch lam, Middle High German lamp, German Lamm "lamb"). Common to the Germanic languages, but with no certain cognates outside them. Old English plural was lomberu. Applied to persons (especially young Church members, gentle souls, etc.) from late Old English. Also sometimes used ironically for cruel or rough characters (e.g. Kirke's Lambs in wars of 1684-86). Lamb's-wool (adj.) is from 1550s.

Slang definitions & phrases for lamb

lamb

noun

A dear, sweet person: Mary is such a lamb (1923+)


lamb in the Bible

(1.) Heb. kebes, a male lamb from the first to the third year. Offered daily at the morning and the evening sacrifice (Ex. 29:38-42), on the Sabbath day (Num. 28:9), at the feast of the New Moon (28:11), of Trumpets (29:2), of Tabernacles (13-40), of Pentecost (Lev. 23:18-20), and of the Passover (Ex. 12:5), and on many other occasions (1 Chr. 29:21; 2 Chr. 29:21; Lev. 9:3; 14:10-25). (2.) Heb. taleh, a young sucking lamb (1 Sam. 7:9; Isa. 65:25). In the symbolical language of Scripture the lamb is the type of meekness and innocence (Isa. 11:6; 65:25; Luke 10:3; John 21:15). The lamb was a symbol of Christ (Gen. 4:4; Ex. 12:3; 29:38; Isa. 16:1; 53:7; John 1:36; Rev. 13:8). Christ is called the Lamb of God (John 1:29, 36), as the great sacrifice of which the former sacrifices were only types (Num. 6:12; Lev. 14:12-17; Isa. 53:7; 1 Cor. 5:7).

Idioms and Phrases with lamb

lamb

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