| 释义 |
▪ I. lamb, n.|læm|
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. a. The young of the sheep.
c725Corpus Gloss. (Hessels) E 216 Enixa est genuit agnam idest ceolbor lomb. c825Vesp. Psalter cxiii. 6 Muntas for hwon uphofun ᵹe swe swe rommas & hyllas swe swe lomberu scepa. 858Charter of æthelberht in O.E. Texts 438, xx lamba & xx fehta. a900Kent. Glosses in Wr.-Wülcker 61/29 Et quasi agnus lasciuiens, and swa pleᵹende lamp. c950Lindisf. Gosp. Luke x. 3 Ic sendo iuih sua lombro bi-tuih ulfum. c1000ælfric Exod. xii. 5 Witodlice þæt lamb sceal beon anwintre pur lamb clæne and unwemme. c1175Lamb. Hom. 87 Þet i-offrede lomb þet þe engel het offrian bitacneð cristes deðþe. a1225Ancr. R. 66 Monie cumeð to ou ischrud mid lombes fleose, & beoð wode wulues. 1297R. Glouc. (Rolls) 7609 Wolues dede hii nimeþ vorþ, þat er dude as lombe. a1300Cursor M. 11302 Wit hir child suld offer þare, A lamb if sco sua riche ware. 1387Trevisa Higden (Rolls) II. 229, Iabel..departide kydes from lambren. c1425Lydg. Assembly of Gods 801 Humylyte was the furst: a lambe he bestrode. c1440Jacob's Well 38 Þe tythe owyth to be payed of lambryn. 1486Bk. St. Albans C vij b, Take pressure made of a lombe that was borne in vntyme. 1500–20Dunbar 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. 1535Coverdale Is. lxv. 25 The wolff and the lambe shal fede together. a1550Christis Kirke Gr. xx, Bludy berkit wes thair baird, As thay had worriet lammis. 1586Vestry Bks. (Surtees) 21 Item receaved of Nicolas Newbye for twoe lames..ijs. vjd. 1621Middleton Sun in Aries Wks. (Bullen) VII. 348 Illustrated by proper emblems..as..Sincerity by a Lamb. 1667Milton P.L. xi. 645 Ewes and thir bleating Lambs. 1735Somerville Chase iii. 26 The poor defenceless Lamb,..Supplies a rich Repast. 1784Cowper Task vi. 111 Sheepwalks populous with bleating lambs. 1813Shelley Q. Mab viii. 128 His teeth are harmless, custom's force has made His nature as the nature of a lamb. 1884Ruskin Pleas. Eng. (1885) 133 A Lamb means an Apostle, a Lion an Evangelist.
transf. and fig.1450–1530Myrr. our Ladye 87 Yf we be hys trew shepe, fruytfull in wolle of verteues..and in lambren of good dedes. 1591Shakes. Two Gent. iv. iv. 97 Alas poor Proteus, thou hast entertain'd A Foxe, to be the Shepheard of thy Lambs.
b. Proverbs.
1620Shelton Quix. ii. vii. 40 As soone goes the yong lambe to the roste, as the olde sheepe. 1748Richardson 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.
c1000Ags. Gosp. John xxi. 15 He cwæð to him heald mine lamb [c 950 Lindisf., c 1160Hatton lombor]. c1200Ormin 13329 To stanndenn gæn þe laþe gast, To werenn hise lammbre. a1225St. Marher. 12 Icham mi lauerdes lomb, ant he is min hirde. c1386Chaucer Pars. T. ⁋718 Therfore shul they neuere han part of the pasture of lambes, that is the blisse of heuene. 1526Pilgr. Perf. (W. de W. 1531) 2 To shewe the waye of vertue to his yonge pilgrymes & tender lambes. 1761Wesley 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. 1864Tennyson 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.
c1000ælfric Hom. I. 390 He ᵹefullode ðone wulf and ᵹeworhte to lambe. 13..Cursor M. 20010 + 671 (B.M. Add. MS.) Iesu crist, godes sone, of a wilde hounde haþ made a lomb. c1460Towneley Myst. xxiii. 391 Maria. Alas, my lam so mylde, whi wille thou fare me fro Emang thise wulfes wylde. 1500–20Dunbar Poems lii. 4 He is na Dog; he is a Lam. 1589Puttenham 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. 1819Shelley Cenci ii. i. 136 Innocent lambs! They thought not any ill. 1858Lytton What will he do i. xiv, The Baron was a lamb compared to a fine lady.
c. used as a term of endearment.
a1553Udall Royster D. i. iv. (Arb.) 27 Ah sir, be good to hir, she is but as gristle, Ah sweete lambe and coney. 1673Kirkman Unlucky Cit. 165 But Lamb [sc. his wife], you mistake the matter quite. 1715De Foe Fam. Instruct. i. iii. (1841) I. 59 To hear the dear lamb ask me, Father, will not God be angry with me. 1820Shelley 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.
1668Leathermore's Adv. conc. Gaming (ed. 2) 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. 1680Cotton Compl. Gamester (ed. 2) 5 And then the Rooks..laugh and grin, saying the Lamb is bitten. 1881J. Mills Too fast to last III. x. 127 ‘In order—That we may not be among the skinned lambs’, interrupted William Bottles. 1884Chicago Tribune Feb., ‘Lamb’ is an outsider who goes into the market and leaves his money. 1886Gladden Applied Chr. 204 A recent estimate..puts the amount of which the ‘lambs’ are shorn in this New York stock market alone at eight hundred million dollars a year.
3. a. the Lamb, † God's Lamb, the Lamb of God. (After John i. 29, Rev. xvii. 14, etc.)
a1000Guthlac 1015 (Gr.) Ic siððan mot..godes lomber in sindreamum siððan awo forð folᵹian. c1000Ags. Gosp. John i. 29 Her is godes lamb, her is se þe deð aweᵹ middaneardes synnæ. c1200Ormin 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. 1340Ayenb. 232 Volȝeþ þet lamb of mildenesse þet is Iesu crist. a1400Prymer (1891) 68 Loomb of god..haue mercy on us. c1430Hymns Virg. 53 Þis lomb, y spak of him Þat al þe worldis synne a-batys. 1567Gude & Godlie Ball. (S.T.S.) 43 That Lamb for sober summe was sauld. 1611Bible Rev. xxii. 1 A pure riuer of water of life..proceeding out of the throne of God, and of the Lambe. 1784Cowper Task vi. 792 One song employs all nations, and all cry, ‘Worthy the Lamb, for He was slain for us!’ 1842Tennyson St. Agnes' Eve 17 So shows my soul before the Lamb, My spirit before Thee.
b. Her. Holy Lamb = Agnus Dei b.
1823in Crabb Technol. Dict. 1843Fosbroke 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. 1882Cussans 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 1860–1870.)
1744Ralph Hist. Eng. I. 888 So infamous was the Behaviour of his own particular Corps, that he [Kirke] him⁓self, by way of Irony, call'd them his Lambs; an appellation which was adopted by the whole West of England. 1757Hume Hist. II. 387. 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. 1849Macaulay 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. 1869Latest 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.
1620Venner Via Recta iii. 50 Lambe of two or three moneths old is the best. 1683Tryon Way to Health 92 There is no flesh either more healthy or grateful than Lamb. 1841Lane Arab. Nts. I. 123 Lamb or Mutton cut into small pieces.
fig.1809Malkin 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.
1527Lanc. Wills (Chetham Soc.) I. 6 My gowne furrett wt whyte lambe. 1567R. Mulcaster Fortescue's De Laud. Leg. (1672) 123 b, The Serjeants Cape is ever Furred with white Lambe. 1889Daily News 24 Dec. 2/7 Allow me to state what means are employed to procure the Persian lamb or Astrakhan.
c. vegetable lamb: = barometz.
1698A. 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-chop [chop n.1 2 b] (also fig.), lamb-cote, † lamb-fell, lamb-flesh, lamb-fold, lamb-glove, lamb-hurdle, lamb-meadow, lamb-shepherd, lamb-trade.
b. objective, as lamb-hymning, lamb-shearing.
c. instrumental (sense 5 b) as lamb-lined.
c1838C. Mathews in M. R. Booth Eng. Plays of 19th Cent. (1973) IV. 136 He ate three pounds and a half of *lamb chops. 1865Mrs. Stowe House & Home Papers 248 All the edible matters..would form those delicate dishes of lamb-chop. 1962E. Lucia Klondike Kate ii. 40 Mrs Bettis was persistent and her daughter was quite a lamb chop, so he finally agreed. 1963R. Carrier Great Dishes of World 145 Place lamb chops in a flat dish just large enough to hold them and pour marinade mixture over them. 1974‘E. Lathen’ Sweet & Low xvii. 165 Deep in a choice between lamb chops and pork chops.
1459–60Durham Acc. Rolls (Surtees) 320 Pro tectura apud le *lambecote.
c1500in Arnold Chron. (1811) 75 *Lambefelle for the C{ddd}i. d.
c1400tr. Secreta Secret., Gov. Lordsh. 78 Meene metys engendrys noght bolnynges ne superfluytes, as *lombe fflessh, motoun and Capouns.
1884Gilmour Mongols 91 Most of the west side [of the tent] was taken up by a *lamb-fold.
1811Self Instructor 121, 3 pair of fine *lamb gloves.
1805R. W. Dickson Pract. Agric. (1807) I. 160 Fig. 7 represents a *lamb-hurdle.
a1711Ken Edmund Poet. Wks. 1721 II. 366 As we wander o're the blissful Plains, You daily shall compose *Lamb-hymning strains.
1591Sylvester Du Bartas i. iv. 706 A payr of *Lamb-lyn'd buskins on her feet.
1459–60Durham Acc. Rolls (Surtees) 320 Pro falcacione de le *Lammedowe. 1774*Lamb-shearing [see lamb-ale in 7 below]. 1886C. Scott Sheep-Farming 139 Lamb-shearing has long been an established practice in East Cornwall and other parts.
a1711Ken Sion Poet. Wks. 1721 IV. 331 May I, like you, sing the *Lamb-Shepherd's Love.
1895Daily News 31 May 8/7 *Lamb trade firm.
7. a. 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 n. 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 (in U.S. also lamb fries) [cf. fry n.2 2 b], in the U.K. and U.S., lamb's offal, esp. testicles; in Austral. and N.Z., lamb's liver; 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.).
1774Warton 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. 1857Toulmin Smith Parish 503 The ‘Ales’ were numerous. Brand mentions..Lamb-Ales, Leet-Ales, [etc.].
1813T. 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.
1886C. Scott Sheep-Farming 167 If the ewes and lambs are folded, *lamb creeps can be brought into use.
1898‘Rolf Boldrewood’ Rom. Canvass Town 96 The ewes of the *lamb-emptied small yard are then carefully counted out.
1810Splendid 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.
1885R. Sharpe Cal. City Letters 107 The 170 *lamb-florins in their keeping.
1822W. Kitchiner Cook's Oracle (ed. 4) 492 *Lamb's fry. Fry it plain..garnish with crisp parsley. 1861Mrs. Beeton Bk. Househ. Managem. 353, 1 lb. of lamb's fry. 1888Elworthy W. Somerset Word-bk. s.v., The product of lambs' castration are called lamb's-fries. 1891Hardy Tess (1900) 8/2, I should like for supper,—well, lamb's fry. 1894[see fry n.2 2 b]. 1936S. E. Nash Cooking Craft (ed. 3) xii. 106 Lamb's fry consists of the liver, sweet⁓bread, heart, and some of the inside fat. 1944H. Wentworth Amer. Dial. Dict. 345 Lamb fries, lamb's testicles. 1951Good Housek. Home Encycl. 530 Lamb's fry, sliced lamb's offal, cooked as a rich stew. 1963Rombauer & Becker Joy of Cooking (ed. 4) 449/1 Skin, cut into quarters: 4 medium lamb fries. 1966Baker Austral. Lang. (ed. 2) iv. 83 We could pause to consider lambs' fry, as a euphemism for testicles from marked or castrated lambs... Our later use of lamb's fry for lamb liver is one of our most ‘refined’ additions. 1969R. & D. De Sola Dict. Cooking 138 Lamb fries, lamb testicles.
1607Topsell 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. 1891Times 28 Sept. 4/1 Lamb-hogs, 18s. to 28s. per head.
1819Rees Cycl. XX, *Lamb-house,..the place where lambs are fattened.
1609Bp. 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.
1607T. Cocks Acc. 27 Apr. (Canterb. Cath. Libr. MS. E. 31) *Lambes lether gloves 6d.
1886C. Scott Sheep Farming 74 A good strong *lamb ram will serve as many as twenty-five ewes without hurt.
a1613Overbury Charac., Ordinarie Fencer Wks. (1856) 112 For an inward bruise, *lambstones and sweet⁓breads are his onely sperma ceti which he eats at night. 1677Compleat Servant-Maid 87 Put in Lamb-stones and sweetbreads.
1819Rees 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; 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.
c1000Sax. Leechd. II. 24 Cersan sædes, sume men hatað *lambes cersan. a1100Voc. in Wr.-Wülcker 300/14 Thiaspis, lambescerse. 1882in Friend Devonshire Plant-n.
1597Gerarde Herbal ii. xxxv. §1. 242 *Lambes Lettuce. 1830Lindley 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. 1872Oliver Elem. Bot. ii. 192 Corn-salad, or Lamb's-lettuce..is eaten as a salad.
1773J. 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. 1869E. A. Parkes Pract. Hygiene (ed. 3) 233 A salad made of the ‘lamb's quarter’ (Chenopodium album), was found very useful.
1882Garden 4 Feb. 77/1 That modest kind of beauty which these catkins, ‘pussies’, and ‘*lambs'-tails’, as the country people call them, suggest. 1896Warwicksh. Gloss., Lambs'-tails, the male catkins of hazel and filbert trees.
1821Clare Vill. Minstr. II. 94 Handfuls..of rose and *lambtoe sweet.
Add:[7.] [b.] lamb's ears (also lamb's ear), any of several plants whose leaves are covered with soft white hairs; esp. the labiate Stachys byzantina, often grown in gardens.
a1876E. Leigh Gloss. Dial. Cheshire (1877) 119 *Lamb's Ears, the Rose Campion. 1884W. Miller Dict. Eng. Names Plants 252 Stachys..germanica, Common Wound-wort, Lamb's-ear. 1900Dickinson & Prevost Gloss. Dial. Cumberland (rev. ed.) 192/1 Lamb's ear,..Hoary Plantain—Plantago media. 1905Eng. Dial. Dict. III. 510/2 Lamb's-ears,..the premorse scabious. 1944T. C. Mansfield Border in Colour 221 S[tachys] lanata..has white woolly leaves and is commonly called Lamb's Ears. 1988Los Angeles Times 19 Mar. v. 4/1 Stachys, or lamb's ears, is the darling of the perennial bed.
▪ II. lamb, v.|læm|
[f. lamb n.]
1. trans. (passive only.) To bear or bring forth; to ‘drop’ (a lamb).
1641Best Farm. Bks. (Surtees) 5 It..inableth the lambe to seeke after a livinge soe soone as it is lambed. 1725Bradley Fam. Dict. s.v. Lamb, If he be like to dye when first Lambed, it is usual to open his Mouth and blow therein. 1793Hollym Inclos. Act 13 A modus of one shilling a score of all lambs lambed and living at Midsummer. c1817Hogg Tales & Sk. IV. 199 The..shepherd.. found her with a new-yeaned lamb on the very gair of the Crawmel Craig, where she was lambed herself. 1829Glover's Hist. Derby I. 214 Not one of these [rams] was lambed before Feb. 6, 1828.
2. intr. To bring forth a lamb; to yean.
1611Cotgr., Agneler, to lambe. 1641Best Farm. Bks. (Surtees) 5 An ewe putt into a goode pasture three weekes afore shee lambe, is as goode as to lett her goe in a goode pasture three weekes after. 1701J. Brand Zetland (1703) 75 As for the sheep,..they Lamb not so soon as with us. 1846J. Baxter Libr. Pract. Agric. (ed. 4) II. p. xxii, Each ewe..lambing at two, three, and four years old.
3. Of a shepherd: To tend (ewes) at lambing-time. Also, to lamb down.
1850Jrnl. R. Agric. Soc. XI. i. 76 The flocks are usually lambed down about the latter end of March. 1851Ibid. XII. ii. 574 Every shepherd considers himself an adept at lambing his ewes. Mod. Advt., Wanted, a Cowman, one used to lamb-down a few Ewes preferred.
4. lamb down. Austral. [? a transferred use of sense 3.] trans.
a. To part with, pay down (money), esp. recklessly. Also absol.
1890Melbourne Argus 7 June 4/2 The paying off of drovers, the selling off of horses, the ‘lambing down’ of cheques. Ibid. 9 Aug. 4/5 The old woman, of course, thought that we were on gold, and would lamb down at the finish in her shanty.
b. To induce (a person) to get rid of his money; to ‘clean out’. Also absol.
1873M. Clarke Holiday Peak, etc. 21 Trowbridge's did not ‘lamb down’ so well as the Three Posts. 1890Melbourne Argus 16 Aug. 4/7 One used to serve drinks in the bar, the other kept the billiard-table. Between them they lambed down more shearers and drovers than all the rest on the river.
Hence lambed ppl. a., ˈlambing (down) vbl. n.
1611Cotgr., Agnelé, lambed. 1844Stephens Bk. Farm II. 599 Of the lambing of ewes. Ibid. 601 Think also what sort of care is bestowed on a newly lambed flock. 1850Jrnl. R. Agric. Soc. XI. i. 76, I have kept 500 ewes in lamb this way..and had them in very high condition..on their lambing down. 1867Gainsborough News 23 Mar., 200 lambed and in-lamb ewes and gimmers. 1873J. B. Stephens Black Gin 51 It is the Bushman come to town..Come to do his ‘lambing down’. 1880G. Walch Victoria in 1880. 130 The operation—combining equal parts of hocussing, over-charging, and direct robbery..and facetiously christened by bush landlords ‘lambing down’.
▪ III. lamb
obs. form of lam v. |