lemming

[lem-ing]

noun

any of various small, mouselike rodents of the genera Lemmus, Myopus, and Dicrostonyx, of far northern regions, as L. lemmus, of Norway, Sweden, etc., noted for periodic mass migrations that sometimes result in mass drownings.

Origin of lemming

1600–10; < Norwegian; cognate with Icelandic lǣmingi lemming, lǣmingr loon; akin to Gothic laian to revile, Icelandic lā to blame

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018

Examples from the Web for lemming

Contemporary Examples of lemming

“You become a lemming in a big scary world,” says Zbitnoff of making the transition.
Katie Might Be Able to Leave Tom—but Divorcing Scientology Won’t Be Easy
Eliza Shapiro
July 4, 2012

Historical Examples of lemming

I observed every where about the sides of the hills holes dug by the Lemming Rat.
Lachesis Lapponica
Carl von Linn
Mr. Crotch has thrown new light on some of the habits of the lemming.
The Galaxy, Volume 23, No. 2, February, 1877
Various
Within three days Asgard the Beautiful was left to the lemming and the raven.
Days of the Discoverers
L. Lamprey
No conceivable advantage to the lemming is known to have ever resulted from these long and arduous marches.
The Galaxy, Volume 23, No. 2, February, 1877
Various
A new theory has been broached to explain the migrations of the Norway lemming, a variety of field mouse.
The Galaxy, Volume 23, No. 2, February, 1877
Various

British Dictionary definitions for lemming

lemming

noun

any of various volelike rodents of the genus Lemmus and related genera, of northern and arctic regions of Europe, Asia, and North America: family Cricetidae. The Scandinavian variety, Lemmus lemmus, migrates periodically when its population reaches a peak
a member of any large group following an unthinking course towards mass destruction

Derived Formslemming-like, adjective

Word Origin for lemming

C17: from Norwegian; related to Latin latrāre to bark

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

Word Origin and History for lemming

small arctic rodent, c.1600, from Norwegian lemming, from Old Norse lomundr "lemming." Perhaps from Lapp luomek. Figurative sense (in reference to their mass migrations that sometimes end in plunges into the sea) is from 1958.