lambkin

From lamb +‎ -kin.

• IPA^(key): /ˈlæmkɪn/

• Audio (Southern England):

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• Hyphenation: lamb‧kin

lambkin (plural lambkins)

1. A young lamb, a very young sheep.
   • 1781, Richard Hole, Homer's Hymn to Ceres, Exeter: B. Thorn & Son, p. 38:

     A lambkin’s snowy fleece

   • 1785, William Cowper, “Book I. The Sofa.”, in The Task, a Poem, […], London: […] J[oseph] Johnson;  […], →OCLC, page 3:

     There might ye ſee the pioney ſpread vvide, / The full-blovvn roſe, the ſhepherd and his laſs, / Lap-dog and lambkin vvith black ſtaring eyes, / And parrots vvith tvvin cherries in their beak.

2. A term of endearment.
   • 1599 (date written), [William Shakespeare], The Cronicle History of Henry the Fift, […] (First Quarto), London: […] Thomas Creede, for Tho[mas] Millington, and Iohn Busby […], published 1600, →OCLC, [Act II, scene i], signature B2, verso:

     Let vs condoll the knight: for lamkins vve vvill liue.

   • 1919, Ronald Firbank, Valmouth, Duckworth, page 28:

     She has no real cognisance, dear lambkin, of anything at all.