bar-lamb

9.9

A person who is kind and gentle and easily says yes to others

noun

Slang

: lambón

Everyone at the club calls him a bar-lamb because he can't say no to anyone.

Examples

She gets teased for being a bar-lamb whenever she forgives people too easily.
Despite his size, he's really a bar-lamb with a heart of gold.
She is such a bar-lamb for helping everyone.
My friend is a true bar-lamb when it comes to animals.
Despite his tough exterior, he is a real bar-lamb who always helps those in need.
People often say she's a bar-lamb for going out of her way to comfort her friends.
Her coworkers appreciate her kindness, calling her a bar-lamb for her gentle nature.

Synonyms

lamb

vsbar-lamb

60 5.6

A person who is gentle, innocent, or easily tricked

is especially kind and soft-hearted, sometimes to a fault

lambie

vsbar-lamb

Baby Talk

9.9

A person, often a child, who is gentle and innocent

is more broadly kind and soft-hearted, sometimes to a fault

Antonyms

cruel

522 2.7

Willing to cause pain or suffering to others

harsh

289 2.8

Unkind and too strict in what someone says or does to others

How Gentle

bar-lamb

Slang

9.9

softhearted

1 3.4

kind

534 1.0

Surface Forms

bar-lamb singular

bar-lambs plural

Morphology

bar-lamb = bar + lamb (semi-transparent) = bar + lamb

The compound is visibly 'bar' + 'lamb' and 'lamb' clearly contributes 'gentle person', but the role of 'bar-' is slangy or unclear to learners so the full meaning is not fully predictable.

Etymology

Bar-lamb joins bar, meaning a pub or club, and lamb, the young sheep thought of as 'gentle' and 'innocent'. So a bar-lamb is someone who is soft-hearted or too kind, often in a rough, noisy place.