Forms: α. 1 lam(b, lamp, lęmb, 2, 4–6 lam, 4–6 lame, 4–7 lambe, 5–6 lamme, 7 lamm, 2– lamb. Pl. 1 lamb, 3 lambre, Orm. lammbre, 3–5 lambren, 4 lamberne, 4–5 lambryn, 5 lamber, lamborn, lambres, lambron, 6 lambes, (lames, Sc. lammis), 6– lambs. β. 1–5 lomb, lombor, 2–5 lombe, 3 lombbe, 4 lome, loombe, (lowmpe), 4–5 loomb, 5 loom. Pl. 1 lomber, lombern, lombor, lombro, lombur, 3 lombren. [Com. Teut.: OE. lamb, lambor (lǫmb, lǫmbor), lęmb str. neut., corresponds to OS. lamb (Du., MLG. lam), OHG. lamb (MHG. lam(b, lamp, mod.G. lamm), ON. lamb (Sw. lamm, Da. lam), Goth. lamb:—OTeut. *lamboz-, *lambiz-; no certain extra-Teut. affinities have been found.
The regular pl. form in OE. was lǫmberu (*lamberu):—OTeut. *lambozâ; there were disyllabic forms produced by omission of the final or syncopation of the middle vowel; the occasional form lamb is due to the analogy of animal names of the o declension. In ME. the plural was assimilated to that of the -n declension (cf. children, calveren, brethren).]
1. The young of the sheep.
c. 725. Corpus Gloss. (Hessels), E 216. Enixa est genuit agnam idest ceolbor lomb.
c. 825. Vesp. Psalter, cxiii. 6. Muntas for hwon uphofun ʓe swe swe rommas & hyllas swe swe lomberu scepa.
858. Charter of Æthelberht, in O. E. Texts, 433. xx lamba & xx fehta.
a. 900. Kent. Glosses, in Wr.-Wülcker, 61/29. Et quasi agnus lasciuiens, and swa pleʓende lamp.
a. 950. Lindisf. Gosp., Luke x. 3. Ic sendo iuih sua lombro bi-tuih ulfum.
c. 1000. Ælfric, Exod. xii. 5. Witodlice þæt lamb sceal beon anwintre pur lamb clæne and unwemme.
c. 1175. Lamb. Hom., 87. Þet i-offrede lomb þet þe engel het offrian bitacneð cristes deðþe.
a. 1225. Ancr. R., 65. Monie cumeð to ou ischrud mid lombes fleose, & beoð wode wulues.
1297. R. Glouc. (Rolls), 7609. Wolues dede hii nimeþ vorþ, þat er dude as lombe.
a. 1300. Cursor M., 11302. Wit hir child suld offer þare, A lamb if sco sua riche ware.
1387. Trevisa, Higden (Rolls), II. 229. Iabel … departide kydes from lambren.
c. 1425. Lydg., Assembly of Gods, 801. Humylyte was the furst: a lambe he bestrode.
c. 1440. Jacob’s Well, 38. Þe tythe owyth to be payed of lambryn.
1486. Bk. St. Albans, C vij b. Take pressure made of a lombe that was borne in vntyme.
1500–20. Dunbar, Poems, xxxviii. 18. He for our saik that sufferit to be slane, And lyk a lamb in sacrifice wes dicht, Is lyk a lyone rissin vp agane.
1535. Coverdale, Is. lxv. 25. The wolff and the lambe shal fede together.
a. 1550. Christis Kirke Gr., xx. Bludy berkit wes thair baird, As thay had worriet lammis.
1586. Vestry Bks. (Surtees), 21. Item receaved of Nicolas Newbye for twoe lames … ijs. vjd.
1621. Middleton, Sun in Aries, Wks. (Bullen), VII. 348. Illustrated by proper emblems … as … Sincerity by a Lamb.
1667. Milton, P. L., XI. 645. Ewes and thir bleating Lambs.
1735. Somerville, Chase, III. 26. The poor defenceless Lamb,… Supplies a rich Repast.
1784. Cowper, Task, VI. 111. Sheepwalks populous with bleating lambs.
1813. Shelley, Q. Mab, viii. 128. His teeth are harmless, custom’s force has made His nature as the nature of a lamb.
1884. Ruskin, Pleas. Eng. (1885), 133. A Lamb means an Apostle, a Lion an Evangelist.
transf. and fig. 1450–1530. Myrr. Our Ladye, 87. Yf we be hys trew shepe, fruytfull in wolle of verteues … and in lambren of good dedes.
1591. Shaks., Two Gent., IV. iv. 97. Alas poor Proteus, thou hast entertain’d A Foxe, to be the Shepheard of thy Lambs.
b. Proverbs.
1620. Shelton, Quix., II. vii. 40. As soone goes the yong lambe to the roste, as the olde sheepe.
1748. Richardson, Clarissa, I. x. 60. In for the lamb, as the saying is, in for the sheep.
1768. [see GOD 5 b].
Mod. As well be hanged for a sheep as a lamb.
2. fig. Applied to persons. a. A young member of a flock, esp. of the church.
c. 1000. Ags. Gosp., John xxi. 15. He cwæð to him heald mine lamb [c. 950 Lindisf., c. 1160 Hatton lombor].
c. 1200. Ormin, 13329. To stannden gæn þe laþe gast, To werenn hise lammbre.
a. 1225. St. Marher., 12. Icham mi lauerdes lomb, ant he is min hirde.
c. 1385. Chaucer, Pars. T., ¶ 718. Therfore shul they neuere han part of the pasture of lambes, that is the blisse of heuene.
1526. Pilgr. Perf. (W. de W., 1531), 2. To shewe the waye of vertue to his yonge pilgrymes & tender lambes.
1761. Wesley, Jrnl., 21 Jan. (1827), III. 38. I spent a hour with one who was as hot as any of the lambs at the tabernacle; but she is now a calm, reasonable woman.
1864. Tennyson, Aylmer’s F., 361. Leolin, I almost sin in envying you: The very whitest lamb in all my fold Loves you.
b. One who is as meek, gentle, innocent or weak as a lamb.
c. 1000. Ælfric, Hom., I. 390. He ʓefullode ðone wulf and ʓeworhte to lambe.
13[?]. Cursor M., 20010 + 671 (B.M. Add. MS.). Iesu crist, godes sone, of a wilde hounde haþ made a lomb.
c. 1460. Towneley Myst., xxiii. 391. Maria. Alas, my lam so mylde, whi wille thou fare me fro Emang thise wulfes wylde.
1500–20. Dunbar, Poems, lii. 4. He is na Dog; he is a Lam.
1589. Puttenham, Eng. Poesie, III. xxiv. (Arb.), 299. It is comely for a man to be a lambe in the house, and a Lyon in the field.
1819. Shelley, Cenci, II. i. 136. Innocent lambs! They thought not any ill.
1858. Lytton, What will He do? I. xiv. The Baron was a lamb compared to a fine lady.
c. used as a term of endearment.
a. 1553. Udall, Royster D., I. iv. (Arb.), 27. Ah sir, be good to hir, she is but as gristle, Ah sweete lambe and coney.
1673. Kirkman, Unlucky Cit., 165. But Lamb [sc. his wife], you mistake the matter quite.
1715. De Foe, Fam. Instruct., I. iii. (1841), I. 59. To hear the dear lamb ask me, Father, will not God be angry with me.
1820. Shelley, Fiordispina, 76. And say, sweet lamb, would you not learn [etc.]?
d. A simpleton; one who is cheated; esp. one who speculates and loses his money.
1667. Leathermore: Advice conc. Gaming (1668), 4–5. When a young Gentleman or Prentice comes into this School of Vertue, unskil’d in the quibbles and devices there practiced, they call him a Lamb.
1680. Cotton, Compl. Gamester (ed. 2), 5. And then the Rooks … laugh and grin, saying the Lamb is bitten.
1881. J. Mills, Too fast to last, III. x. 127. ‘In order——’
‘That we may not be among the skinned lambs,’ interrupted William Bottles.
1884. Chicago Tribune, Feb. ‘Lamb’ is an outsider who goes into the market and leaves his money.
1886. W. Gladden, Applied Chr., 204. A recent estimate … puts the amount of which the ‘lambs’ are shorn in the New York stock market alone at eight hundred million dollars a year.
3. The Lamb, † God’s L Lamb, the Lamb of God. (After John i. 29, Rev. xvii. 14, etc.)
a. 1000. Guthlac, 1015 (Gr.). Ic siððan mot … godes lomber in sindreamum siððan awo forð folʓian.
c. 1000. Ags. Gosp., John i. 29. Her is godes lamb. her is se þe deð aweʓ middaneardes synnæ.
c. 1200. Ormin, 12649. Crist Wass Godess Lamb ȝehatten.
13[?]. E. E. Allit. P., A. 413. My lorde þe lombe, þurȝ hys god-hede, He toke my self to hys maryage.
1340. Ayenb., 232. Volȝeþ þet lamb of mildenesse þet is Iesu crist.
a. 1400. Prymer (1891), 68. Loomb of god … haue mercy on us.
c. 1430. Hymns Virg., 53. Þis lomb, y spak of him Þat al þe worldis synne a-batys.
1567. Gude & Godlie Ball. (S.T.S.), 43. That Lamb for sober summe was sauld.
1611. Bible, Rev. xxii. 1. A pure riuer of water of life … proceeding out of the throne of God, and of the Lambe.
1784. Cowper, Task, VI. 792. One song employs all nations, and all cry, ‘Worthy the Lamb, for He was slain for us!’
1842. Tennyson, St. Agnes’ Eve, 17. So shows my soul before the Lamb, My spirit before Thee.
b. Her. Holy Lamb = AGNUS DEI b.
1823. in Crabb, Technol. Dict.
1843. Fosbroke, Cycl. Antiq., 815. Holy-Lamb. This was anciently a lamb with St. John pointing to him, and was ordered to be changed into the human form by the Trullan canons made in 653.
1882. Cussans, Her., vi. (ed. 3), 100. The Paschal or Holy Lamb is a Lamb passant supporting with its dexter fore-leg a staff, usually in bend-sinister, from which depends a Banner, charged with a Cross of St. George.
4. pl. a. The name given to the proverbially cruel and rapacious soldiers of Col. Kirke’s regiment in 1684–6, in ironical allusion to the device of the Paschal Lamb on their flag. b. The name given to bodies of ‘roughs’ hired to commit acts of violence at elections. (The ‘Nottingham Lambs’ were notorious about 1860–70.)
1744. Ralph, Hist. Eng., I. 888/1. So infamous was the Behaviour of his own particular Corps, that he [Kirke], himself, by way of Irony, call’d them his Lambs; an Appellation which was adopted by the whole West of England.
1770. Hume, Hist. (new ed.), VIII. lxxi. 235. By way of pleasantry he used to denominate them his lambs; an appellation, which was long remembered with horror in the west of England.
1844. Times, 4 Nov., 5/2. Upwards of 200 ‘lambs’ were employed by the same [political] party to carry off voters. Note. ‘Lambs’ … means ruffians employed at elections to impress upon the persons and property of the peaceable inhabitants the ‘physical force’ doctrine.
1849. Macaulay, Hist. Eng., iii. I. 334. As they had been levied for the purpose of waging war on an infidel nation, they bore on their flag a Christian emblem, the Paschal Lamb…. These men, the rudest and most ferocious in the English army, were called Kirke’s Lambs.
1869. Latest News, 17 Oct. Samuel Dawson was examined at some length in reference to the employment of a number of ‘lambs,’ or roughs, in Stracey’s interest at the last election.
5. In various applications. a. The flesh of the lamb used as food.
1620. Venner, Via Recta, iii. 50. Lambe of two or three moneths old is the best.
1683. Tryon, Way to Health, 92. There is no flesh either more healthy or grateful than Lamb.
1841. Lane, Arab. Nts., I. 123. Lamb or Mutton cut into small pieces.
fig. 1809. Malkin, Gil Blas, X. xii. (Rtldg.), 384. The happy man … seemed to be very little less happy than his partner…; and one would have sworn … that he liked mutton better than lamb. [Said of a bridegroom and his elderly bride.]
b. short for LAMBSKIN.
1527. Lanc. Wills (Chetham Soc.), I. 6. My gowne furrett wt whyte lambe.
1567. R. Mulcaster, Fortescue’s De Laud. Leg. (1672), 123 b. The Serjeants Cape is ever Furred with white Lambe.
1889. Daily News, 24 Dec., 2/7. Allow me to state what means are employed to procure the Persian lamb or Astrakhan.
c. Vegetable lamb: = BAROMETZ.
1698. A. Brand, Emb. Muscovy to China, 125. I am not very apt to give credit to the Relations of the vulgar sort in Muscovy, among which, that of the Vegetable Lamm is a general received Fable.
6. attrib. and Comb.: a. simple attributive, as lamb-cote, † -fell, -flesh, -fold, -glove, -hurdle, -meadow, -shepherd, -trade. b. objective, as lamb-hymning, -shearing. c. instrumental (sense 5 b) as lamb-lined.
1459–60. Durham Acc. Rolls (Surtees), 320. Pro tectura apud le *lambecote.
c. 1500. in Arnold, Chron. (1811), 75. *Lambefelle for the C…i. d.
c. 1400. trans. Secreta Secret., Gov. Lordsh., 78. Meene metys engendrys noght bolnynges ne superfluytes, as *lombe fflessh, motoun and Capouns.
1884. Gilmour, Mongols, 91. Most of the west side [of the tent] was taken up by a *lamb-fold.
1811. Self Instructor, 121. 3 pair of fine *lamb gloves.
1805. R. W. Dickson, Pract. Agric. (1807), I. 160. Fig. 7 represents a *lamb-hurdle.
a. 1711. Ken, Edmund, Poet. Wks. 1721, II. 366. As we wander o’re the blissful Plains, You daily shall compose *Lamb-hymning strains.
1591. Sylvester, Du Bartas, I. iv. 706. A payr of *Lamb-lyn’d buskins on her feet.
1459–60. Durham Acc. Rolls (Surtees), 320. Pro falcacione de le *Lammedowe.
1774. *Lamb-shearing [see lamb-ale in 7 below].
1886. C. Scott, Sheep-Farming, 139. Lamb-shearing has long been an established practice in East Cornwall and other parts.
a. 1711. Ken, Sion, Poet. Wks. 1721, IV. 331. May, I, like you, sing the *Lamb-Shepherd’s Love.
1895. Daily News, 31 May, 8/7. *Lamb trade firm.
7. Special Comb.: lamb-ale (see quot.); lambs’-cage (see quot.); lamb-creep, a hole in a hedge or hurdle just large enough for lambs to get in and out of the fold (see CREEP sb. 4); lamb-emptied a., emptied of lambs; lamb-fashion, after the fashion of a lamb; used in prov. phr. mutton dressed lamb-fashion, applied to an old woman dressed in youthful style; lamb-florin Hist., a florin stamped with the ‘Agnus Dei’; lamb’s fry (see quot.); lamb-hog, a lamb of the second year; lamb-house (see quot.); † lamb’s-lease, a meadow in which lambs are reared; † lamb’s leather, lambskin; lamb-ram, a ram under two years old; lamb-stones, the testicles of a lamb; lamb-suckler, lamb-suckling (see quots.).
1774. Warton, Hist. Eng. Poetry (1840), III. 119. *Lamb-ale is still used at the village of Kirtlington in Oxfordshire, for an annual feast or celebrity at lamb-shearing.
1857. Toulmin Smith, Parish, 503. The ‘Ales’ were numerous. Brand mentions … Lamb-Ales, Leet-Ales, [etc.].
1813. T. Davis, Agric. Wilts, 264. *Lambs’-Cages, cribs for foddering sheep in fold; they are usually made semi-cylindrical, with cleft Ash-rods about six to seven feet long and about one foot diameter.
1886. C. Scott, Sheep-Farming, 167. If the ewes and lambs are folded, *lamb creeps can be brought into use.
1898. ‘R. Boldrewood,’ Rom. Canvas Town, 96. The ewes of the *lamb-emptied small yard are then carefully counted out.
1810. Splendid Follies, I. 131. Ewe mutton without garnish is a tough bite, to be sure; but methinks she’s dished herself off to day, *lamb-fashion.
1885. R. R. Sharpe, Cal. City Letters, 107. The 170 *lamb-florins of Flemish money and other goods in their keeping.
1888. Elworthy, W. Somerset Word-bk., s.v., The product of lambs’ castration are called *lamb’s-fries.
1891. T. Hardy, Tess (1900), 8/2. I should like for supper,—well, lamb’s fry.
1607. Topsell, Four-f. Beasts (1658), 495. As, the first year, we call it in English a Lamb, so, the second year, a Hog, *Lam-hog, or Teg if it be a female.
1891. Times, 28 Sept., 4/1. Lamb-hogs, 18s. to 28s. per head.
1819. Rees, Cycl., XX. *Lamb-house,… the place where lambs are fattened.
1609. Bp. W. Barlow, Answ. Nameless Cath., 58. Wherein, if the Reader obserue (as if he had beene brought vp in *Lambs-lease) he seemes for the most part very tenderly affected.
1607. T. Cocks, Acc., 27 April (Canterb. Cath. Libr. MS. E. 31). *Lambes lether gloves 6d.
1886. C. Scott, Sheep-Farming, 74. A good strong *lamb ram will serve as many as twenty-five ewes without hurt.
a. 1613. Overbury, Charac., Ordinarie Fencer, Wks. (1856), 112. For an inward bruise, *lambstones and sweetbreads are his onely sperma ceti which he eats at night.
1677. Compleat Servant-Maid, 87. Put in Lamb-stones and sweetbreads.
1819. Rees, Cycl., XX. *Lamb-suckler,… a person who … carries on the business of fattening house-lamb. Ibid., *Lamb-suckling,… the art of fattening house-lamb.
b. In various plant names, as lamb’s cress, Cardamine hirsuta; lambkill, (a) Andromeda mariana (Syd. Soc. Lex., 1888); (b) U.S. the sheep-laurel, Kalmia angustifolia; lamb’s lettuce = CORN-SALAD (Valerianella olitoria); lamb’s quarter(s, (a) Atriplex hastata or patula; (b) Chenopodium album; lamb’s tails, the catkins of the hazel, Corylus Avellana; lamb(’s toe(s, a name for Lotus corniculatus, Anthyllis Vulneraria, and Medicago lupulina. Also LAMB’S TONGUE.
c. 1000. Sax. Leechd., II. 24. Cersan sædes, sume men hatað *lambes cersan.
a. 1100. Voc., in Wr.-Wülcker, 300/14. Thiaspis, lambescerse.
1882. in Friend, Devonshire Plant-n.
1851. S. Judd, Margaret, xiv. (1871), 90. Cymes of viburnums, rose-blooming *lambkill.
1597. Gerarde, Herbal, II. xxxv. § 1. 242. *Lambes Lettuce.
1830. Lindley, Nat. Syst. Bot., 197. The young leaves of the species of Valerianella are eaten as salad, under the French name of Mâche, or the English one of Lamb’s Lettuce.
1872. Oliver, Elem. Bot., II. 192. Corn-salad, or Lamb’s-lettuce … is eaten as a salad.
1773. Hawkesworth, Voy., III. 442. We also once or twice met with a plant like what the country people in England call *Lamb’s quarters, or Fat-hen.
1869. E. A. Parkes, Pract. Hygiene (ed. 3), 233. A salad made of the ‘lamb’s quarter’ (Chenopodium album), was found very useful.
1882. Garden, 4 Feb., 77/1. That modest kind of beauty which these catkins, ‘pussies,’ and *‘lambs’-tails,’ as the country people call them, suggest.
1896. Warwicksh. Gloss., Lambs’-tails, the male catkins of hazel and filbert trees.
1821. Clare, Vill. Minstr., II. 94. Handfuls … of rose and *lambtoe sweet.
