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lemming - 5 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
1600–10; < Norw; c. Icel lǣmingi lemming, lǣmingr loon; akin to Goth laian to revile, Icel lā to blame

Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2009.
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Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2009.
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Link To lemming
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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Copyright © 2009 by Houghton Mifflin Company.
Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
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Lemming
Lem"ming\ (l[e^]m"m[i^]ng), n. [Nor. lemming, lemende; cf. Sw. lemel, Lapp. lummik.] (Zo["o]l.) Any one of several species of small arctic rodents of the genera Myodes and Cuniculus, resembling the meadow mice in form. They are found in both hemispheres. Note: The common Northern European lemming (Myodes lemmus) is remarkable for making occasional devastating migrations in enormous numbers from the mountains into the lowlands.
Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary, © 1996, 1998 MICRA, Inc.
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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.
Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2001 Douglas Harper
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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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See also: Herd Instinct
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