lamb
- 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.
- to give birth to a lamb.
Origin of lamb
Lamb
- CharlesElia, 1775–1834, English essayist and critic.
- Harold A.,1892–1962, U.S. novelist.
- Mary Ann,1764–1847, English author who wrote in collaboration with her brother Charles Lamb.
- William, 2nd Viscount Melbourne,1779–1848, English statesman: prime minister 1834, 1835–41.
- Willis E(ugene), Jr.,1913–2008, U.S. physicist: Nobel Prize 1955.
Related Words for lamb
fish, fool, sucker, pushover, gull, patsy, mark, victim, butt, chump, sap, pigeon, stooge, angel, dupe, virgin, greenhornExamples from the Web for lamb
Contemporary Examples of lamb
The freezer is filled with meat, sides of beef and large pieces of lamb.
In her white prom dress, Carrie is like a lamb to the slaughter, the blood besmirching her innocence.
I must have had lamb and potatoes 180 times since I have been here.
Families were sitting picnic-style, meals of lamb and rice on large plates, scooped up with the flat bread nan.
His family ran a butcher shop in a part of town so tough that their specialty was broken leg of lamb.
Historical Examples of lamb
The bones of lamb are pink, while those of mutton are white.
Woman's Institute Library of Cookery, Vol. 3Woman's Institute of Domestic Arts and Sciences
The joint is jagged in lamb, but smooth and round in mutton.
Woman's Institute Library of Cookery, Vol. 3Woman's Institute of Domestic Arts and Sciences
This last referred, not to K. Le Moyne, of course, but to the lamb stew.
KMary Roberts Rinehart
Lamb and Coleridge, on the other hand, have praised "Lear" as a world's masterpiece.
The Man ShakespeareFrank Harris
Behold the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the world.
An Explanation of Luther's Small CatechismJoseph Stump
lamb
- the young of a sheep
- the meat of a young sheep
- a person, esp a child, who is innocent, meek, good, etc
- a person easily deceived
- like a lamb to the slaughter
- without resistance
- innocently
- Also: lamb down (intr) (of a ewe) to give birth
- (tr; used in the passive) (of a lamb) to be born
- (intr) (of a shepherd) to tend the ewes and newborn lambs at lambing time
Word Origin for lamb
Lamb
1- the Lamb a title given to Christ in the New Testament
Lamb
2- 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
Word Origin and History for lamb
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.
Idioms and Phrases with lamb
lamb
see hanged for a sheep (as a lamb); in two shakes (of a lamb's tail); like a lamb to the slaughter.