From Middle English lamb, from Old English lamb, from Proto-West Germanic *lamb, from Proto-Germanic *lambaz, probably from Proto-Indo-European *h₁l̥h₁onbʰos, enlargement of *h₁elh₁én, ultimately from *h₁el-.

See also Dutch lam, German Lamm, Bavarian Lamperl, Danish lam, Swedish lamm, Finnish lammas, Scottish Gaelic lon, Ancient Greek ἔλαφος. More at elk.

• IPA: /læm/
  • (æ-tensing) IPA: [leəm]

lamb

1. A young sheep.

   Synonyms: sheepling

2. (obsolete) A young goat; a kid.
   • The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], 1611, →OCLC ↗, Exodus 12:5 ↗: “Your lamb shall be without blemish, a male of the first year: ye shall take it out from the sheep, or from the goats:”
3. (uncountable) The flesh of a lamb or sheep used as food.
4. (figuratively) A person who is meek, docile and easily led.
5. Lambskin.
6. A simple, unsophisticated person.
7. (finance, slang) One who ignorantly speculates on the stock exchange and is victimized.
8. (slang) A fan of American singer, songwriter, actress, and record producer Mariah Carey (born 1969).

   Holonym: Lambily

   Alternative form: Lamb

• French: agneau, agnelle
• German: Lamm
• Italian: agnello, (newborn) agnellino, agnella
• Portuguese: anho, cordeiro
• Russian: ягнёнок
• Spanish: cordero

• French: agneau
• German: Lamm, Lammfleisch
• Italian: agnello
• Portuguese: cordeiro
• Russian: бара́нина
• Spanish: cordero, carne de cordero

• Portuguese: cordeiro
• Russian: овца́
• Spanish: borrego, borrega

lamb (lambs, present participle lambing; simple past and past participle lambed)

1. (intransitive) Of a sheep, to give birth.
2. (transitive or intransitive) To assist (sheep) to give birth.

   The shepherd was up all night, lambing her young ewes.

• French: mettre bas

1. Surname.
2. An unincorporated community in Craig, Switzerland County.
3. An extinct town in Marion County, Missouri.
4. An islet (small island) in the Firth of Forth, East Lothian, Scotland (OS grid ref NT5386).

See Lamb of God. See also lamb.

1. (Christianity) Jesus; the Lamb of God
   • 1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], →OCLC ↗, Revelation 12:10-11 ↗:

     And I heard a loud voice saying in heaven, Now is come salvation, and strength, and the kingdom of our God, and the power of his Christ: for the accuser of our brethren is cast down, which accused them before our God day and night. And they overcame him by the blood of the Lamb, and by the word of their testimony; and they loved not their lives unto the death.

• (Jesus) Paschal Lamb, Lamb of God, Agnus Dei

See lamb.

lamb (plural lambs)

1. (slang) Alternative case form of lamb.