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• lamb
  lamb

  noun

  a young sheep.
• Lamb
  Lamb

  noun

  Charles Elia, 1775–1834, English essayist and critic.

lamb

¹ American  

[lam] / læm /

noun

• lambs
  plural

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.

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verb (used without object)

1. to give birth to a lamb.

Lamb ² American  

[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.

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lamb ¹ British  

/ 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. 1. without resistance

   2. innocently

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verb

1. Also: lamb down. (intr) (of a ewe) to give birth

2. (tr; used in the passive) (of a lamb) to be born

3. (intr) (of a shepherd) to tend the ewes and newborn lambs at lambing time

Lamb ² British  

/ 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) Melbourne 2

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

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Lamb ³ British  

/ læm /

noun

1. a title given to Christ in the New Testament

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lamb Idioms  

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

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Other Word Forms

Derived Forms

• lamblike
  adjective

Inflected Forms

Nouns

• lambs
  plural

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Etymology

Origin of lamb

First recorded before 900; Middle English, Old English; cognate with Dutch lam, German Lamm, Old Norse, Gothic lamb; akin to Greek élaphos “deer”; see elk

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Explanation

A lamb is a baby sheep. Most female sheep, or ewes, give birth to one or two lambs each spring. Lambs are so cute that they tend to show up in nursery rhymes — as in "Mary had a little lamb." Awwww. When you're petting a newborn sheep, you can call it a lamb, but if you're eating meat that comes from this same animal, it's a mass noun, lamb without the a. The word can be a verb too, as when a ewe lambs, or gives birth, and it's been a common pet name, especially for a young child, since at least the eleventh century: "Okay, time for bed, lamb!"

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

lamb Lamb lambs

This finding may reflect the relatively small amounts of Neu5Gc in cow's milk compared with red meats such as beef and lamb.

From Science Daily ● Oct. 18, 2026

Like many on Martha’s Vineyard, a resort island off Cape Cod that’s teeming with ticks this year, I bid a sad farewell to hamburgers, bacon and lamb chops.

From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 4, 2026

It has massive beef operations in Brazil and Australia, and processes other proteins such as lamb and salmon.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 10, 2026

Now, it’s known for incredible lamb, cheese, wine and fruit inspired by the natural, high-quality, hard-working traditions of generations of Māori.

From Salon ● Jul. 26, 2026

Dish after dish is brought to the table, some easily identifiable as quail or rabbit or lamb, served on banana leaves or baked in apples or garnished with brandy-soaked cherries.

From "The Night Circus" by Erin Morgenstern

Lamb Weston LW 9.68%increase; green up pointing triangle raised its outlook for the year after reporting higher-than-expected adjusted earnings and sales in its fiscal first quarter, driven by continued momentum in North America.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 6, 2026

Their effects have been observed through well established phenomena such as the Lamb shift, spontaneous emission, and the Casimir effect.

From Science Daily ● Oct. 3, 2026

Baby Elsie Lamb was born in the Cineworld at Broughton, Flintshire, with staff assisting and paramedics arriving moments later.

From BBC ● Sep. 16, 2026

"Ink" follows the relationship between Murdoch and his first editor of "The Sun", Larry Lamb, with the latter the main character in the film, Boyle told reporters.

From Barron's ● Sep. 2, 2026

The other girl, Number 43, has straight bleached hair streaked with blue and sings "Mary Had a Little Lamb."

From "Will Grayson, Will Grayson" by John Green and David Levithan

October is traditionally a time when many Scottish farmers sell "store" cattle or lambs to other farmers who will fatten them up further.

From BBC ● Oct. 3, 2026

"And if there was a downside, and if lambs are being taken, and that's a farmer's likelihood, and I totally respect that, let's have a compensation scheme."

From BBC ● Jul. 9, 2026

As children, cattle and lambs happily commune with bears, lions and wolves in the foreground, the background depicts William Penn making a treaty with Tamanend, chief of the Lenape Nation, and founding Pennsylvania.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 3, 2026

The paintings featured include scenes of unassuming houses visited by otherworldly guests, dead-eyed office workers, gravity-defying displays and lambs being led to the slaughter.

From Los Angeles Times ● Jun. 9, 2026

She talked to them, running with the lambs, letting them suck on her fingers.

From "Sarah, Plain and Tall" by Patricia MacLachlan

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