lambkin

plural lambkins

1. A young lamb, a very young sheep.

   A lambkin’s snowy fleece

   1781, Richard Hole, Homer's Hymn to Ceres, Exeter: B. Thorn & Son, p. 38

   1 more example

   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.

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

2. A term of endearment.

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

   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

   1 more example

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

   1919, Ronald Firbank, Valmouth, Duckworth, page 28