lamb
English
editEtymology
editFrom 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, Danish lam, Swedish lamm, Finnish lammas, Scottish Gaelic lon (“elk”), Ancient Greek ἔλαφος (élaphos, “red deer”). More at elk.
Pronunciation
editNoun
editlamb (countable and uncountable, plural lambs or (both dialectal) lamber or lambren)
- A young sheep.
- Mary had a little lamb, its fleece as white as snow.
- Synonym: sheepling
- (obsolete) A young goat; a kid.
- The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], 1611, →OCLC, Exodus 12:5: “Your lamb shall be without blemish, a male of the first year: ye shall take it out from the sheep, or from the goats:”
- (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
- lamb down
- 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
- Persian lamb
- sacrificial lamb
- Scythian lamb
- skin the lamb
- spring lamb
- Tartarian lamb
- tod and lambs
- vegetable lamb
Translations
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Verb
editlamb (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
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Anagrams
editFaroese
editEtymology
editFrom Old Norse lamb, from Proto-Germanic *lambaz.
Noun
editlamb 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
editn8 | 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
editRomanization
editlamb
- Romanization of 𐌻𐌰𐌼𐌱
Icelandic
editEtymology
editFrom Old Norse lamb, from Proto-Germanic *lambaz.
Pronunciation
editNoun
editlamb n (genitive singular lambs, nominative plural lömb)
- a lamb
Declension
editDerived terms
edit- launa lambið gráa
- ljúfur sem lamb
- vatna lömbum (compare the Old Norse krjúpa at keldu)
Middle English
editAlternative forms
editEtymology
editFrom Old English lamb, from Proto-West Germanic *lamb, from Proto-Germanic *lambaz.
Pronunciation
editNoun
editlamb (plural lambren or lamber or lambes)
Descendants
editReferences
edit- “lō̆mb, n.”, in MED Online, Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Michigan, 2007.
Norwegian Nynorsk
editEtymology
editNoun
editlamb 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
editHistorical 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
editOld English
editAlternative forms
editEtymology
editFrom Proto-Germanic *lambaz.
Pronunciation
editNoun
editlamb n (nominative plural lambru)
Declension
editWest Saxon: Strong z-stem:
singular | plural | |
---|---|---|
nominative | lamb | lambru |
accusative | lamb | lambru |
genitive | lambes | lambra |
dative | lambe | lambrum |
Anglian:
singular | plural | |
---|---|---|
nominative | lomb | lombur, lomberu |
accusative | lomb | lombur, lomberu |
genitive | lombur | lombra |
dative | lombur | lombrum |
Descendants
editOld High German
editEtymology
editFrom Proto-West Germanic *lamb, see also Old Saxon lamb, Old English lamb, Old Norse lamb, Gothic 𐌻𐌰𐌼𐌱 (lamb).
Noun
editlamb n
Declension
editsingular | plural | |
---|---|---|
nominative | lamb | lembir |
accusative | lamb | lembir |
genitive | lambes | lembiro |
dative | lambe | lembirum, lembirom |
instrumental | lambu, lambo | lembirum, lembirom |
Descendants
editReferences
edit- Köbler, Gerhard, Althochdeutsches Wörterbuch, (6. Auflage) 2014
- Joseph Wright, An Old High German Primer, Second Edition
Old Norse
editEtymology
editFrom Proto-Germanic *lambaz.
Noun
editlamb n (genitive lambs, plural lǫmb)
- a lamb
Declension
editDescendants
editOld Saxon
editEtymology
editFrom Proto-West Germanic *lamb.
Noun
editlamb n
Declension
editsingular | plural | |
---|---|---|
nominative | lamb | lambiru |
accusative | lamb | lambiru |
genitive | lambes | lambirō |
dative | lambe | lambirum |
instrumental | — | — |
Descendants
edit- Low German: Lamm
- English terms inherited from Middle English
- English terms derived from Middle English
- English terms inherited from Old English
- English terms derived from Old English
- English terms inherited from Proto-West Germanic
- English terms derived from Proto-West Germanic
- English terms inherited from Proto-Germanic
- English terms derived from Proto-Germanic
- English terms inherited from Proto-Indo-European
- English terms derived from Proto-Indo-European
- English 1-syllable words
- English terms with IPA pronunciation
- English terms with audio pronunciation
- Rhymes:English/æm
- Rhymes:English/æm/1 syllable
- English lemmas
- English nouns
- English uncountable nouns
- English countable nouns
- English nouns with irregular plurals
- English terms with obsolete senses
- English terms with quotations
- en:Finance
- English slang
- English verbs
- English intransitive verbs
- English transitive verbs
- English terms with usage examples
- en:Baby animals
- en:Fans (people)
- en:Goats
- en:Meats
- en:People
- en:Sheep
- Faroese terms inherited from Old Norse
- Faroese terms derived from Old Norse
- Faroese terms inherited from Proto-Germanic
- Faroese terms derived from Proto-Germanic
- Faroese lemmas
- Faroese nouns
- Faroese neuter nouns
- fo:Foods
- fo:Meats
- fo:Sheep
- fo:Stýrivolt
- Gothic non-lemma forms
- Gothic romanizations
- Icelandic terms inherited from Old Norse
- Icelandic terms derived from Old Norse
- Icelandic terms inherited from Proto-Germanic
- Icelandic terms derived from Proto-Germanic
- Icelandic 1-syllable words
- Icelandic terms with IPA pronunciation
- Rhymes:Icelandic/amp
- Rhymes:Icelandic/amp/1 syllable
- Icelandic lemmas
- Icelandic nouns
- Icelandic neuter nouns
- is:Baby animals
- is:Sheep
- Middle English terms inherited from Old English
- Middle English terms derived from Old English
- Middle English terms inherited from Proto-West Germanic
- Middle English terms derived from Proto-West Germanic
- Middle English terms inherited from Proto-Germanic
- Middle English terms derived from Proto-Germanic
- Middle English terms with IPA pronunciation
- Middle English lemmas
- Middle English nouns
- enm:Baby animals
- enm:Meats
- enm:Sheep
- Norwegian Nynorsk terms inherited from Old Norse
- Norwegian Nynorsk terms derived from Old Norse
- Norwegian Nynorsk lemmas
- Norwegian Nynorsk nouns
- Norwegian Nynorsk neuter nouns
- Norwegian Nynorsk pre-1938 forms
- nn:Christianity
- Old English terms derived from Proto-West Germanic
- Old English terms inherited from Proto-West Germanic
- Old English terms inherited from Proto-Germanic
- Old English terms derived from Proto-Germanic
- Old English terms with IPA pronunciation
- Old English lemmas
- Old English nouns
- Old English neuter nouns
- Old English z-stem nouns
- ang:Sheep
- Old High German terms derived from Proto-Germanic
- Old High German terms inherited from Proto-Germanic
- Old High German terms inherited from Proto-West Germanic
- Old High German terms derived from Proto-West Germanic
- Old High German lemmas
- Old High German nouns
- Old High German neuter nouns
- Old Norse terms inherited from Proto-Germanic
- Old Norse terms derived from Proto-Germanic
- Old Norse lemmas
- Old Norse nouns
- Old Norse neuter nouns
- Old Norse neuter a-stem nouns
- non:Sheep
- Old Saxon terms derived from Proto-Germanic
- Old Saxon terms inherited from Proto-Germanic
- Old Saxon terms inherited from Proto-West Germanic
- Old Saxon terms derived from Proto-West Germanic
- Old Saxon lemmas
- Old Saxon nouns
- Old Saxon neuter nouns
- Old Saxon z-stem nouns