Also 6 lamming. [f. LAMB v. + -ING1.] The parturition or yeaning of lambs; (of a lamb) birth, time of birth. Also attrib., as lambing fold, season, time.
1573. Tusser, Husb., xxxv. (1878), 80. Now therefore thine ewe, vpon lamming so neere, desireth in pasture that all may be cleere.
1611. Cotgr., s.v. Agneler, At lambing time we find what Ewes were full.
1616. Surfl. & Markh., Country Farme, 111. When the Ewe is in Lambing.
1797. Monthly Mag., III. 486. A premium of five guineas to the owner of the best South-down wether, to be two years old last lambing-time.
1813. Examiner, 3 May, 279/2. The lambing has been … successful.
1861. Pearson, Early & Mid. Ages Eng., 141. The tithes … were due three times a year,—at the lambing season, at harvest-time, and at Martinmas.
1881. A. C. Grant, Bush-Life Queensland, xxxii. (1882), 328. Stone had also done very well; his lambings had been good.
1886. C. Scott, Sheep-Farming, 79. Admirable lambing folds can be constructed very readily … with no other materials than wattled hurdles and straw.
