1A young sheep.

1. 1.1mass noun The flesh of a lamb as food.
   ‘we had roast lamb for supper’
   More example sentences

   • ‘lamb chops’
   • ‘Grilled steak, pork roast, sautéed lamb chops, or roast chicken would make a perfect pairing.’
   • ‘Main courses included roast beef, lamb and pork from the carvery, steak and kidney pie, poached chicken with mushroom and asparagus sauce and vegetable lasagne.’
   • ‘You need best end of neck lamb chops but don't over-trim them; leave a little fat on for flavour.’
   • ‘Yes, pork fat is higher in unsaturated fatty acids than beef, veal, or lamb fat.’
   • ‘They're typically stuffed with a rice and meat mixture, but with lamb chops as the centerpiece, do I really want to do meat in the stuffing?’
   • ‘I dip a sprig of rosemary into the oil and place it over each lamb chop.’
   • ‘This light, slightly racy red wine would match well with grilled meats, salmon, lamb or pork.’
   • ‘Sunday roasts - lamb, beef and pork - were available, as was half a roast chicken.’
   • ‘Sundays would be the day that I properly cook something traditional like roast lamb.’
   • ‘We'll cook roast lamb and potatoes and indulgent desserts and scoff the whole thing ourselves.’
   • ‘The roast lamb was a scrumptious mound of tender, smokey meat.’
   • ‘Forty per cent of Irish spring lamb, she says, is sold on the home market.’
   • ‘I was preparing lamb chops, according to a recipe from Jamie's Dinners.’
   • ‘Mr. Deacon said spring lamb prices will be set by the strong domestic market demand and scarce supplies.’
   • ‘William barks for them to shut up as he bites into a lamb shank.’
   • ‘Use enough stock to just barely cover the lamb shanks.’
   • ‘I personally like the lamb cutlets, although they can be a little tough.’
   • ‘Bertie had to admit the lamb stew was the best he ever tasted.’
   • ‘Season the lamb with salt and pepper and add to the pan.’
   • ‘I recommend a light, acidic Beaujolais Villages as your wine partner to a lamb curry.’
2. 1.2Used figuratively as a symbol of meekness or innocence.
   ‘he accepted her decision like a lamb’
   More example sentences

   • ‘The singer is admitting to the listener that he is feigning the innocence of a lamb in order to get close to Little Red.’
   • ‘Thank God for all right thinking parents out there who have shielded the innocent lambs of the world from this menace.’
   • ‘Me, I'd rather sit here eating a Tootsie Roll Pop, innocent as a newborn lamb, and not worry about stuff like the police.’
   • ‘McDougal may not have been the most innocent of lambs, but it is clear that the Start Gestapo would not have pursued her had it not been for her friendship with the Clintons.’
   • ‘Yes, Kelley herself is not exactly an innocent lamb being led to media slaughter.’
   • ‘I looked at the religious angle, the Christian / Pagan conflict, and the wolf as heretic symbol, as opposed to the Christian lamb.’
   • ‘A wide-eyed innocent, Matthew is initially the lamb to the slaughter as he falls under the spell of the beguiling Isabelle.’
   • ‘Few women are the docile and innocent lambs that the media and feminist groups have portrayed them to be.’
   • ‘Jesus is the innocent lamb that is put to death to maintain peace.’
   • ‘He was the sacrificial lamb without blemish, making an atonement to end all sacrifices.’
   • ‘McNulty: We are poor little lambs who have lost our way.’
   • ‘There are babes in Christ's family as well as old men; there are weak members of the mystical body as well as strong ones; there are tender lambs as well as sheep.’
   • ‘It is worth recalling that however successful they eventually became, Ferranti Thistle were originally regarded as sacrificial lambs likely to surrender easy points to the existing clubs.’
   • ‘It's called the Wiffenpoof Song, and one line goes, ‘We're poor little lambs who have lost our way.’’
   • ‘For Christians there is the added symbolic significance that Jesus is regarded as the lamb of God.’
   • ‘Even a man of Karsh's considerable charm couldn't have turned Churchill from lion to lamb in an instant.’
   • ‘Britney Spears, the wholesome princess of pop, and queen of semiconductor physics is not the harmless little lamb we all took her for.’
3. 1.3Used to describe or address someone regarded with affection or pity, especially a young child.
   ‘the poor lamb is very upset’
   More example sentences

   • ‘They seem to be okay now, though, the poor lambs.’
   • ‘As for the poor lambs, well they're still being killed.’
   • ‘How else would the poor lambs get a decent break before being slaughtered in the main event of the winter?’
   • ‘Oh, the inhumanity of it all, the snobbery, the poor lamb.’
   • ‘However, having seen the questionnaire upon which this research is to be based, I do hope ministers, poor lambs that they are, have been included in this eminently worthwhile exercise.’
   • ‘We are poor little lambs who have lost our way.’
   • ‘‘It turns out that, in the end, the British state still made a profit out of me,’ the poor lamb concluded.’
   • ‘Gary Neville's bleeding from the head, the poor lamb.’

1no object (of a ewe) give birth to lambs.

1. 1.1with object Tend (ewes) at lambing time.
   ‘I lambed a flock of 30 ewes for a neighbour’
   More example sentences

   • ‘‘All the ewes are lambed inside and stay inside for about 48 hours to mother them up so that they don't get separated when they go out, hopefully into the sunshine on Bredon Hill,’ Mr Freestone said.’
   • ‘Mr Chambers and his wife Wendy, who keep a herd of Hebridean sheep on their smallholding near Monkton Farleigh, are busy lambing this week.’
   • ‘I, for my part, have to confess to you I have a little sheep farm and I was lambing before I came here this morning.’
   • ‘How can Paul Stilgoe of the RSPCA think it is a reasonable to expect farmers to lamb all their ewes inside in order to protect them and the lambs?’
   • ‘Ms Wright is from Mallerstang and has spent ten years shepherding and lambing.’
   • ‘Adrian Bateson is lambing on the family farm and is unavailable.’
   • ‘He also asked the pupils how many of them came from farms, and whether they were lambing at home.’
   • ‘Selling for fat is no good to us as there is no profit in that when you lamb at this time of year.’

2lamb someone downAustralian, New Zealand informal, dated with object Encourage someone to squander their money, especially on alcohol.