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
1Words that may be confused with lamb
- lam, lamb
Other definitions for Lamb (2 of 2)
Charles "Elia", 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.
Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2024
How to use lamb in a sentence
The Silence of the Lambs was criticized for being anti-gay and transphobic at the time of its release, and even more so since.
Jonathan Demme on Gaza, Transphobia in ‘The Silence of the Lambs,’ and Meryl Streep as a Rock Star | Marlow Stern | July 25, 2014 | THE DAILY BEASTHearken to the bleating of newborn two-headed freak candidacy lambs.
PJ’s Political Forecast: Cloudy with a Chance of Meatheads | P. J. O’Rourke | March 14, 2014 | THE DAILY BEASTThomas Harris tipped his hat to Fowles in The Silence of the Lambs when he created the moth-loving antagonist Jame Gumb.
How to Understand the Criminal Mind By Reading This Novel | Casey N. Cep | December 6, 2013 | THE DAILY BEASTLuckily for Henry the guy giving orders from atop the Sirens of the Lambs truck spoke in a British accent.
I even liked her in House at the End of the Street, the low-budget Silence of the Lambs rip-off that came out last fall.
‘Argo,’ ‘Silver Linings Playbook,’ ‘Lincoln’: Who Will Win On Oscar Night? | Ramin Setoodeh, Marlow Stern | February 20, 2013 | THE DAILY BEAST
And the lambs shall feed according to their order, and strangers shall eat the deserts turned into fruitfulness.
The Bible, Douay-Rheims Version | VariousWhen the two little lambs were first brought in, Mary, the cook, made a nice bed for them in one corner of the kitchen.
Then she put some warm milk in a bottle, and took one of the lambs up in her lap and fed it.
The sheep were afraid, and walked away, crying "Baa-a-ah;" and the little lambs answered, "Baa-a-ah."
The old sheep walked along quietly; but the lambs jumped and frisked about, and kicked up their heels in a very funny way.
British Dictionary definitions for lamb (1 of 3)
/ (læm) /
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
Origin of lamb
1- See also lamb down
Derived forms of lamb
- lamblike, adjective
British Dictionary definitions for Lamb (2 of 3)
/ (læm) /
the Lamb a title given to Christ in the New Testament
British Dictionary definitions for Lamb (3 of 3)
/ (læm) /
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
Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012
Other Idioms and Phrases with lamb
see hanged for a sheep (as a lamb); in two shakes (of a lamb's tail); like a lamb to the slaughter.
The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary Copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
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