lamb

¹lamb

noun \ˈlam\

: a young sheep

: the meat of a lamb

: an innocent, weak, or gentle person

Full Definition of LAMB

1

a :  a young sheep; especially :  one that is less than one year old or without permanent teeth

b :  the young of various animals (as the smaller antelopes) other than sheep

2

a :  a gentle or weak person

b :  dear, pet

c :  a person easily cheated or deceived especially in trading securities

3

a :  the flesh of a lamb used as food

b :  lambskin

— lamb·like \-ˌlīk\ adjective

— lamby \ˈla-mē\ adjective

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Examples of LAMB

1. She's as gentle as a lamb.
2. <the new guys at football camp were lambs who hardly knew what awaited them>

Illustration of LAMB

Origin of LAMB

Middle English, from Old English; akin to Old High German lamb lamb

First Known Use: before 12th century

Related to LAMB

Synonyms

angel, dove, innocent, sheep

Antonyms

wolf

Related Words

babe, colt, cub, fledgling, greenhorn, ingenue (or ingénue), naïf (or naif), newbie, tenderfoot, virgin; cherub, saint; mollycoddle, sissy, softy (or softie), weakling, wimp; dupe, pigeon, sap, sucker

Near Antonyms

bully, roughneck, rowdy, tough; beast, boor, cad, churl, clown, creep, cretin, cur, heel, jerk, joker, louse, lout, slob; shark, skunk, snake, stinker; devil, knave, miscreant, no-good, rapscallion, rascal, reprobate, rogue, scalawag (or scallywag), scamp, scoundrel, varlet, villain

Rhymes with LAMB

bam, cam, clam, cram, dam, damn, drachm, dram, DRAM, flam, gam, gram, ham, Ham, jam, jamb, lam, ma'am, pram, ram, RAM, Sam, SAM, scam, scram, sham, slam, spam, tam, tram, wham, yam

²lamb

verb

of a sheep : to give birth to a lamb

Full Definition of LAMB

intransitive verb

:  to bring forth a lamb

transitive verb

1

:  to bring forth (a lamb)

2

:  to tend (ewes) at lambing time

— lamb·er \ˈla-mər\ noun

Examples of LAMB

1. The ewes will lamb soon.

First Known Use of LAMB

1611

Lamb

biographical name \ˈlam\

Definition of LAMB

Charles 1775–1834 pseud. Elia \ˈe-lē-ə, commonly ˈē-\ Eng. essayist & critic

Lamb

biographical name

Definition of LAMB

William 1779–1848 2d Viscount Melbourne Eng. statesman

Lamb

biographical name

Definition of LAMB

Willis Eugene 1913–2008 Am. physicist

lamb

noun    (Concise Encyclopedia)

Live sheep before the age of one year, and the flesh of such animals. The flesh of the mature ram or ewe at least one year old is called mutton; the meat of sheep 12–20 months old may be called yearling mutton. The meat of sheep 6–10 weeks old is usually sold as baby lamb, and spring lamb comes from sheep 5–6 months old. The primary lamb- and mutton-consuming countries (on a per capita basis) are New Zealand and Australia.