Jewish History. a lamb slaughtered and eaten on the eve of the first day of Passover. Exodus 12:3–11.
(initial capital letters) Christ.
(initial capital letters) any of several symbolic representations of Christ, as the Agnus Dei.
Also called Holy Lamb. (initial capital letters) a representation of a lamb passant having around its head a nimbus and supporting on the dexter shoulder a crosslike staff bearing a flag argent charged with a cross gules.
(sometimes not capitals) Old Testament the lamb killed and eaten on the first day of the Passover
Christ regarded as this sacrifice
First recorded in 1400–50; late Middle English
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
Soon there will be strawberries, asparagus, rhubarb, snow peas and watercress, the paschal lamb, the Easter ham.
From New York Times • Mar. 2, 2017
In a rough-hewn but softly hued departure from his other, often starker work, Baskin evokes many of the familiar Passover figures �the paschal lamb, Pharaoh, the plagues, and the prophet Elijah.
From Time Magazine Archive
The table is at St John of the Lateran at Rome; some bread made for that occasion at Salvatierra in Spain; and the knife with which the paschal lamb was carved is at Tréves.
From A Treatise on Relics by Calvin, John
The paschal lamb was slain on the 14th day of the first month.
From A Vindication of the Seventh-Day Sabbath and the Commandments of God With a Further History of God's Peculiar People from 1847-1848 by Bates, Joseph
The paschal lamb, the ram-headed god Amen of Egypt, and the lamb of Christian symbolism thus came into existence.
From The Eliminator; or, Skeleton Keys to Sacerdotal Secrets by Westbrook, Richard B.
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
