lamb

Etymology

From Middle English lamb, from Old English lamb, from Proto-West Germanic *lamb, from Proto-Germanic *lambaz, reputed to be 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.

noun

1. A young sheep.
2. (uncountable) The flesh of a lamb or sheep used as food.
3. (figurative) A person who is meek, docile and easily led.
4. Lambskin.
   They were as alike as prisoners, dressed in black silk waists and fitted skirts, with shawls of crimped black lamb across their shoulders. 1934, Kay Boyle, My Next Bride, Virago, published 1986, page 8
5. A simple, unsophisticated person.
6. (finance, slang) One who ignorantly speculates on the stock exchange and is victimized.
7. (slang) A fan of American singer, songwriter, actress, and record producer Mariah Carey (born 1969).
   Holonym: Lambily
   Alternative form: Lamb
   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. 2003, Bust, page 88
   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. 15 February 2010, 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
   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. 3 January 2019, Rich Juzwiak, “In Praise of Their Diva”, in The New York Times, section D, page 1
   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. 25 February 2020, Chris Azzopardi, “I Love You (But Do You Love Mariah Carey?)”, in The New York Times
   Pride Month begins June 1, and Mariah Carey is giving her lambs plenty of new clothes to celebrate. 2022, “Mariah Carey releases her exclusive Pride merchandise”, in WRMF

verb

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.