lemmingn.
/ˈlɛmɪŋ/, U.S. /ˈlɛmɪŋ/ 1.
a. A small arctic rodent, Myodes lemmus, of the family Muridæ, resembling a field-mouse, about 6 in. long, with a short tail, remarkable for its prolific character and its annual migrations to the sea. Also lemming-mouse, lemming-rat.
ΘΚΠ
the world > animals > mammals > group Unguiculata or clawed mammal > order Rodentia or rodent > superfamily Myomorpha (mouse, rat, vole, or hamster) > [noun] > family Microtidae > genus Lemmus (lemming)
lemming1607
sable-mouse1699
Norway rat1753
Norwegian rat1792
Norwegian lemming1828
1555 Olaus Magnus Historia de Gentibus Septentrionalibus xviii. xx. 617 Quod..in Noruegia..euenit, scilicet vt bestiolæ quadrupedes, Lemmar, vel Lemmus dictæ, magnitudine soricis, pelle varia, per tempestates & repentinos imbres è cœlo decidant.]
1607 E. Topsell Hist. Foure-footed Beastes 727 There are certaine little Foure-footed-beastes called Lemmar, or Lemmus, which in tempestuous and rainy weather, do seeme to fall downe from the cloudes.
1713 W. Derham Physico-theol. ii. vi. 56 A kind of Mice, (they call Leming..) in Norway, which eat up every green thing. They come in such prodigious Numbers, that they fancy them to fall from the Clouds.
1774 O. Goldsmith Hist. Earth IV. 84 The Leming..is often seen to pour down in myriads from the northern mountains.
1803 W. Bingley Animal Biogr. I. 422 The Lemming Rat. The Lemmings are inhabitants of the mountains of Norway and Lapland... They feed entirely on vegetables.
1856 T. De Quincey Confessions Eng. Opium-eater (rev. ed.) in Select. Grave & Gay V. 69 Under such a compulsion does..the leeming, traverse its mysterious path.
1862 H. Marryat One Year in Sweden II. 225 In Elfdal, says the chronicler, on the 2nd of August 1635 there rained from the sky a fall of lemmings.
1884 Gurney & Myers in 19th Cent. May 807 The migratory instinct that carries the lemming into the deep sea.
b. Used figuratively to denote a person bent on a headlong rush, often towards disaster. Also attributive or quasi-adj.; lemming-like adj.
ΘΚΠ
the world > action or operation > adversity > calamity or misfortune > [adjective] > doomed to misfortune > rushing headlong to disaster
lemming1968
1959 M. Gilbert Blood & Judgement iii. 35 Home~going office workers..potent in mass as a lemming migration.]
1968 M. Bragg Without City Wall i. x. 116 To opt out..in a way, you could say that was just as lemming~like as what you're doing.
1969 D. F. Horrobin Sci. is God i. 9 This lemming unconcern may have dangerous consequences.
1969 New Yorker 12 Apr. 61/2 In Dr. Langseth's view, going to the moon is an impulse in~grained in the national character, as though Americans were astronautical lemmings.
1970 Islander (Victoria, Brit. Columbia) 15 Feb. 12/1 No one had the slightest idea of what was happening, yet all had joined in the mad lemming~like scramble for the waterfront.
1970 P. Moyes Who saw her Die? xx. 256 It was Saturday, the lemming rush was in full spate, the suburbs pouring their millions in bus, tube, train and car into the central sea.
1972 ‘J. Bell’ Death of Poison-Tongue viii. 80 Lemmings..was only the present vogue word..to describe a collection of mindless people moved by a common purpose.
1972 Guardian 11 Dec. 12/6 The only way to stop multiple motorway crashes is by educating us all in roadcraft so that our individual intelligence becomes more powerful than our lemming instincts.
1975 Sunday Times 16 Feb. 51/1 Last week there were ample signs that the lemming-like rush to pile in at any price was wearing itself out.
2. Applied to other rodents of the same or allied genera. banded lemming n. (Lydekker Natural Hist. 1894 III. 136). collared lemming n. Snowy lemming n. ( Riverside Nat. Hist. 1885 V. 105) Cuniculus torquatus.
This entry has not yet been fully updated (first published 1902; most recently modified version published online March 2022).
<
n.1607