lamb — English Dictionary

Noun

1. A young sheep; especially, one younger than nine months.

   Usage

   • Countable
   • Uncountable

   Synonyms

   sheepling

   Broader terms

   sheepovinecaprinecapridgoat antelopegoat-antelopebovidungulatemammalvertebrateanimal

   Examples

   Mary had a little lamb, its fleece as white as snow.

   Mark and Mark have raised some lambs for market, and they won a blue ribbon for quality at the fair.

2. A young goat; a kid.

   Usage

   • Countable
   • Obsolete
   • Uncountable

   Examples

   More examples (1)

   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. The flesh of a lamb used as food; (sometimes loosely) the flesh of a sheep of any age used as food.

   Usage

   • Uncountable

   Broader terms

   muttonsheepfleshsheepmeatmeatfoodsubstancematerialstuff

4. A person who is meek, docile, and easily led.

   Usage

   • Countable
   • Figurative
   • Uncountable

   Synonyms

   sheep

   Examples

   Near-synonym: sheep

5. Lambskin.

   Usage

   • Countable
   • Uncountable

   Examples

   They were as alike as prisoners, dressed in black silk waists and fitted skirts, with shawls of crimped black lamb across their shoulders.

6. A simple, unsophisticated person.

   Usage

   • Countable
   • Uncountable

7. One who ignorantly speculates on the stock exchange and is victimized.

   Usage

   • Countable
   • Slang
   • Uncountable

8. A fan of American singer, songwriter, actress, and record producer Mariah Carey (born 1969).

   Usage

   • Countable
   • Slang
   • Uncountable

   Examples

   More examples (4)

   Part of me revels in the campiness of Mariah’s butterfly metaphors and puppies-and-kittens existence. […] But I also genuinely love her music, including this album. I’m one of her lambs.

   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.

   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.

   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.

   Pride Month begins June 1, and Mariah Carey is giving her lambs plenty of new clothes to celebrate.

Verb

1. Of a sheep, to give birth.

   Usage

   • Intransitive

2. To assist (sheep) to give birth.

   Usage

   • Intransitive
   • Transitive

   Examples

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

Noun

1. young sheep

   Broader terms

   young mammal

2. a person easily deceived or cheated (especially in financial matters)

   Broader terms

   victimdupe

3. a sweet innocent mild-mannered person (especially a child)

   Synonyms

   dear

   Broader terms

   innocentinexperienced person

4. the flesh of a young domestic sheep eaten as food

   Broader terms

   meat

Verb

1. give birth to a lamb

   Broader terms

   give birthdeliverbearbirthhave

   Examples

   the ewe lambed