lamb

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See also: Lamb

English[edit]

A sheep and lambs.
A lamb.

Etymology[edit]

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

See also Dutch lam, German Lamm, Swedish lamm, Finnish lammas, Scottish Gaelic lon (“elk”), Ancient Greek ἔλαφος (élaphos, “red deer”). More at elk.

Pronunciation[edit]

  • IPA(key): /læm/
  • Audio (US)(file)
  • Rhymes: -æm

Noun[edit]

lamb (plural lambs or (both dialectal) lamber or lambren)

  1. A young sheep.
    Synonym: sheepling
  2. The flesh of a lamb or sheep used as food.
  3. (figuratively) A person who is meek, docile and easily led.
  4. A simple, unsophisticated person.
  5. (finance, slang) One who ignorantly speculates on the stock exchange and is victimized.
  6. (slang) A fan of American singer, songwriter, actress, and record producer Mariah Carey (born 1969).
    Alternative form: Lamb
    Holonym: Lambily
    • 2003, Bust, page 88:
      Part of me revels in the campiness of Mariah’s butterfly metaphors and puppies-and-kittens existence. I mean, she’s the Judy Garland for a new generation of gay men. But I also genuinely love her music, including this album. I’m one of her lambs.
    • 2003, Sister 2 Sister, page 82:
      In addition to the re-release of the album, Mariah will kick off a tour that includes picks from fans—or “lambs” as she calls them—[…].
    • 2003 June, “20 Sleazy Rock Moments”, in Spin, volume 19, number 6, section 5 (“Hello, Lambs!”), page 69:
      Officially, she was “exhausted,” but before checking into a New York hospital in July 2001, Mariah Carey went on a remarkable binge of public meltdowns. First, she bum-rushed MTV’s TRL, pushing an ice-cream cart and freaking out host Carson Daly by reading a love letter to him from her mother (did we mention she was stripping at the time?). Later, Carey reportedly smashed glasses and dishes in a New York City hotel suite, then left nutty fan-site messages to her “lambs,” stating a need for “like, a minute off.”
    • 2010 February 15, Greg Kot, “Mimi cuts loose: Mariah Carey concert at Chicago Theatre shows that the diva can laugh at herself”, in Chicago Tribune, 163rd year, number 46, section 3, page 6:
      Her latest album, “Memoirs of an Imperfect Angel,” is her best work yet, a warmer and more subtle album that makes her more relatable to those of us who aren’t Mariah die-hards—or “lambs,” as she refers to them.
    • 2019 January 3, Rich Juzwiak, “In Praise of Their Diva”, in The New York Times, section D, page 1:
      This year, Ms. Carey debuted a new Las Vegas revue, and, to celebrate, a group of 36 “lambs,” mostly in their 30s and 40s, boarded a party bus and cruised the Vegas strip for about three hours. […] [picture with “#Lamb4Life”] Ms. Carey among the lambs on the Hollywood Walk of Fame in 2015. […] But in conversations with more than a dozen self-identified lambs, it was her songwriting that was most consistently cited as her defining feature. […] The lambs’ investment in the arc of Ms. Carey’s life and art echoes that of the fandoms surrounding her ’90s contemporaries who are regarded as “confessional” women singer-songwriters, like Tori Amos and Ani DiFranco.
    • 2020 February 25, Chris Azzopardi, “I Love You (But Do You Love Mariah Carey?)”, in The New York Times‎[1]:
      “I’ll fall for you if … your favorite Mariah Carey song is a deep cut,” I had written, attempting to connect with other “lambs,” the nickname for those who are considered her biggest fans. […] Mariah Carey signs autographs for her “lambs,” the nickname for those who are considered her biggest fans. […] But when I saw Mariah in Detroit last year during the Caution World Tour, I was a proud lamb in my tour T-shirt, my very adult body suddenly transformed into my 14-year-old self when she emerged onstage.
    • 2020 October 2, David Oliver, “Carey is deeply vulnerable in memoir”, in Telegraph-Forum, volume 98, number 208, Bucyrus, Ohio, page 6B:
      But Carey fans – also known as her “lambs” – really know her, and leap to her defense any chance they get. […] But Carey’s fans (her “lambs”) drive everything she does.
    • 2020 December 1, “New this week: Selena series, 'Shameless' and Shawn Mendes”, in Tipton County Tribune, volume 130, number 246, Tipton, Ind., page 4:
      During a normal, non-pandemic year, Carey and her Christmas craziness would be on a holiday tour, bringing joy to fans and lambs in-person.
    • 2022, “Mariah Carey releases her exclusive Pride merchandise”, in WRMF‎[2]:
      Pride Month begins June 1, and Mariah Carey is giving her lambs plenty of new clothes to celebrate.
    • 2020 December 28, Rocco Papa, “10 Memorable Mariah Carey Moments That Saved 2020 For Her Lambs”, in Odyssey‎[3]:
      Ever since Carey revealed on Twitter that she filmed a video for the "Daydream" track, "Underneath The Stars," years ago, lambs have been anxious to see it.
    • 2022 February 15, Brenda Alexander, “Nick Cannon Wants Mariah Carey Back Despite the Impending Arrival of His Eighth Child”, in Showbiz CheatSheet‎[4]:
      In the song, Cannon expresses regret over a lost relationship, which leads Carey’s lambs to believe he’s speaking of her.
    • 2022 March 19, Ryan Schocket, “Mariah Carey Accidentally Texted Shawn Mendes Instead Of Her Nephew "Shawn M." And It's Hilarious”, in BuzzFeed‎[5]:
      Well, Mariah is super close with her nephew, whose name is Shawn M. All lambs like myself know that he's always been a huge part of her life. […] Now, true lambs know that Mariah doesn't acknowledge time, so there's no such thing as an "old" Mariah Carey song.
    • 2022 April 19, Glenn Rowley, “Mariah Carey Celebrates ‘Big Big Energy Moment’ With a Splashy Video: Watch”, in Billboard‎[6]:
      In the clip, the Elusive Chanteuse emerges in slow motion from a pool, wearing a sparkling indigo one-piece as she shows off her famous whistle register in the song’s opening moments. From there, she’s all smiles as she struts poolside and makes a splash in her perfectly on-brand heels covered with butterflies of the same color, captioning the post, “Big Big Energy moment! And thank you lambs for the Sweet Sweet Fantasy revival! #BigEnergyRemix.”

Derived terms[edit]

Derived terms

Translations[edit]

Verb[edit]

lamb (third-person singular simple present 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.

Translations[edit]

Anagrams[edit]

Faroese[edit]

Etymology[edit]

From Old Norse lamb, from Proto-Germanic *lambaz.

Noun[edit]

lamb n (genitive singular lambs, plural lomb)

  1. lamb (both the animal and meat)
  2. kid (baby goat)
  3. (playing cards, stýrivolt) seven of the chosen cards (trump seven)

Declension[edit]

n8 Singular Plural
Indefinite Definite Indefinite Definite
Nominative lamb lambið lomb lombini
Accusative lamb lambið lomb lombini
Dative lambi lambinum lombum lombunum
Genitive lambs lambsins lamba lambanna

Derived terms[edit]

Gothic[edit]

Romanization[edit]

lamb

  1. Romanization of 𐌻𐌰𐌼𐌱

Icelandic[edit]

Etymology[edit]

From Old Norse lamb, from Proto-Germanic *lambaz.

Pronunciation[edit]

Noun[edit]

lamb n (genitive singular lambs, nominative plural lömb)

  1. a lamb

Declension[edit]

declension of lamb
n-s singular plural
indefinite definite indefinite definite
nominative lamb lambið lömb lömbin
accusative lamb lambið lömb lömbin
dative lambi lambinu lömbum lömbunum
genitive lambs lambsins lamba lambanna

Derived terms[edit]

Middle English[edit]

Alternative forms[edit]

Etymology[edit]

From Old English lamb, from Proto-West Germanic *lamb, from Proto-Germanic *lambaz.

Pronunciation[edit]

  • IPA(key): /lam(b)/, /laːm(b)/, /lɔm(b)/, /lɔːm(b)/

Noun[edit]

lamb (plural lambren or lamber or lambes)

  1. A lamb, its meat, or its skin.
  2. A Christian believer.

Descendants[edit]

  • English: lamb
  • Scots: lam, lamb
  • Yola: lhawm, lowem

References[edit]

Norwegian Nynorsk[edit]

Etymology[edit]

From Old Norse lamb.

Noun[edit]

lamb n (definite singular lambet, definite singular dative lambe, indefinite plural lamb or lomb, definite plural lambi or lombi, definite plural dative lambom or lombom)

  1. a lamb (young sheep); (pre-1938) alternative form of lam
  2. (by extension, Christianity, figuratively) Christ as sacrificial lamb

Inflection[edit]

Historical inflection of lamb
indefinite singular definite singular indefinite plural definite plural
Aasen1 Lamb Lambet Lomb Lombi
1901 lamb lambet (lambe) lamb lambi
1938 lam

Forms in italics are currently considered non-standard. Forms in [brackets] were official, but considered second-tier. Forms in (parentheses) were allowed under Midlandsnormalen. 1Nouns were capitalised for most of the 19th century.

Derived terms[edit]

Old English[edit]

Alternative forms[edit]

Etymology[edit]

From Proto-Germanic *lambaz.

Pronunciation[edit]

Noun[edit]

lamb n (nominative plural lambru)

  1. lamb

Declension[edit]

West Saxon:

Declension of lamb (strong z-stem)
Case Singular Plural
nominative lamb lambru
accusative lamb lambru
genitive lambes lambra
dative lambe lambrum

Anglian:

Declension of lamb
Case Singular Plural
nominative lomb lombur, lomberu
accusative lomb lombur, lomberu
genitive lombur lombra
dative lombur lombrum

Descendants[edit]

Old High German[edit]

Etymology[edit]

From Proto-West Germanic *lamb, see also Old Saxon lamb, Old English lamb, Old Norse lamb, Gothic 𐌻𐌰𐌼𐌱 (lamb).

Noun[edit]

lamb n

  1. lamb

Declension[edit]

declension of lamb
singular plural
nominative lamb lembir
accusative lamb lembir
genitive lambes lembiro
dative lambe lembirum, lembirom
instrumental lambu, lambo lembirum, lembirom

Descendants[edit]

References[edit]

  1. Köbler, Gerhard, Althochdeutsches Wörterbuch, (6. Auflage) 2014
  2. Joseph Wright, An Old High German Primer, Second Edition

Old Norse[edit]

Etymology[edit]

From Proto-Germanic *lambaz.

Noun[edit]

lamb n (genitive lambs, plural lǫmb)

  1. a lamb

Declension[edit]

  Declension of lamb (strong a-stem)
neuter singular plural
indefinite definite indefinite definite
nominative lamb lambit lǫmb lǫmbin
accusative lamb lambit lǫmb lǫmbin
dative lambi lambinu lǫmbum lǫmbunum
genitive lambs lambsins lamba lambanna

Descendants[edit]

Old Saxon[edit]

Etymology[edit]

From Proto-West Germanic *lamb.

Noun[edit]

lamb n

  1. lamb

Declension[edit]

Declension of lamb (z-stem)
singular plural
nominative lamb lambiru
accusative lamb lambiru
genitive lambes lambirō
dative lambe lambirum
instrumental — —


Descendants[edit]

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