lamb

[ lam ]
/ læm /

noun

a young sheep.
the meat of a young sheep.
a person who is gentle, meek, innocent, etc.: Their little daughter is such a lamb.
a person who is easily cheated or outsmarted, especially an inexperienced speculator.
the Lamb, Christ.

verb (used without object)

to give birth to a lamb.

Origin of lamb

before 900; Middle English, Old English; cognate with Dutch lam, German Lamm, Old Norse, Gothic lamb; akin to Greek élaphos deer. See elk

WORDS THAT MAY BE CONFUSED WITH lamb

lam lamb

Example sentences from the Web for lambing

British Dictionary definitions for lambing (1 of 4)

lambing
/ (ˈlæmɪŋ) /

noun

  1. the birth of lambs
  2. (as modifier)lambing time
the shepherd's work of tending the ewes and newborn lambs at this time

British Dictionary definitions for lambing (2 of 4)

lamb
/ (læm) /

noun

verb

See also lamb down

Derived forms of lamb

lamblike, adjective

Word Origin for lamb

Old English lamb, from Germanic; compare German Lamm, Old High German and Old Norse lamb

British Dictionary definitions for lambing (3 of 4)

Lamb 1
/ (læm) /

noun

the Lamb a title given to Christ in the New Testament

British Dictionary definitions for lambing (4 of 4)

Lamb 2
/ (læm) /

noun

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)
William. See (2nd Viscount) Melbourne 2
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

Idioms and Phrases with lambing

lamb

see hanged for a sheep (as a lamb); in two shakes (of a lamb's tail); like a lamb to the slaughter.