lemming

- 4 dictionary results

lem⋅ming

[lem-ing]

–noun

any of various small, mouselike rodents of the genera Lemmus, Myopus, and Dicrostonyx, of far northern regions, as L. lemmus, of Norway, Sweden, etc., noted for periodic mass migrations that sometimes result in mass drownings.

Origin:
1600–10; < Norw; c. Icel lǣmingi lemming, lǣmingr loon; akin to Goth laian to revile, Icel lā to blame

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Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2009.
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Link To lemming

lem·ming (lěm'ĭng)

n. Any of various small, thickset rodents, especially of the genus Lemmus, inhabiting northern regions and known for periodic mass migrations that sometimes end in drowning.

[Norwegian, from Old Norse læmingi, læmingr.]

The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
Copyright © 2009 by Houghton Mifflin Company.
Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
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Word Origin & History

lemming

"small arctic rodent," 1607, from Norw. lemming, from O.N. lomundr "lemming." Perhaps from Lapp luomek. Fig. sense (in reference to their mass migrations that sometimes end in plunges into the sea) is from 1959.

Financial Dictionary

Lemming

The act of following the crowd into an investment that will inevitably head for disaster.

Investopedia Commentary

In the animal kingdom, a lemming is a rodent known for periodic mass migrations that occasionally end in drowning.

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