Lamb Meaning
/ˈlæm/Definition, CEFR level A2, pronunciation, examples, and quiz.
Listen pronunciation
Definition
nounA young sheep.
nounA young goat; a kid.
Sentence Examples
Have you got any preference between beef and lamb?
This child is as gentle as a lamb today.
CEFR Practice Quiz
The shepherd gently carried the soft woolly ____ to its mother.
CEFR Practice Quiz (Alternate)
A young ____ was following its mother across the green field while the sun was shining brightly today.
Word Origin & History
From Middle English lamb, from Old English lamb, from Proto-West Germanic *lamb, from Proto-Germanic *lambaz, probably from Proto-Indo-European *h₁l̥h₁onbʰos, enlargement of *h₁elh₁én, ultimately from *h₁el-. See also Dutch lam, German Lamm, Bavarian Lamperl, Danish lam, Swedish lamm, Finnish lammas, Scottish Gaelic lon (“elk”), Ancient Greek ἔλαφος (élaphos, “red deer”). More at elk.
Literary Quotations & Historical Citations
"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:
"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."
— 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:
"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."
— 2019 January 3, 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."
— 2020 February 25, Chris Azzopardi, “I Love You (But Do You Love Mariah Carey?)”, in The New York Times:
Explore More A2 Vocabulary Words
CEFR Practice Quiz
The shepherd gently carried the soft woolly ____ to its mother.
CEFR Practice Quiz (Alternate)
A young ____ was following its mother across the green field while the sun was shining brightly today.