noun
definition
A small Arctic and Subarctic rodent from any of six genera of similar rodents.
definition
Any member of a group given to conformity or groupthink, especially a group poised to follow a leader off a cliff.
Examples of lemmings in a Sentence
Arctic foxes feed largely on sea-birds and lemmings, laying up hidden stores of the last-named rodents for winter use.
Foxes and lemmings are met with, but whereas animals are few, birds are very numerous; a variety of ducks, waders, &c., frequent the marshes and lakes.
The lemmings are very numerous, and in certain years undertake migrations to the mainland and back.
Reindeer, followed by wolves, come also every year to the islands; the polar fox and polar bear, both feeding on the lemmings, are numerous.
The circumpolar lemmings of the genera Lemmus and Dicrostonyx are noticed in the article Lemming.
When any combination of circumstances has occasioned an increase of the numbers of the lemmings in their ordinary dwelling-places, impelled by the restless or migratory instinct possessed in a less developed degree by so many of their congeners, a movement takes place at the edge of the elevated plateau, and a migration towards the lower-lying land begins.
In common with lemmings and other representatives of the Microtinae, voles are, however, broadly distinguished from typical rats and mice by the structure of their three pairs of molar teeth.
It breeds abundantly in some seasons on the fells of Lapland, its appearance depending chiefly on the presence of lemmings (Lemmus norvegicus), on which it mainly preys.
Of Phanerogams, only the Dryas octopetala covers small areas of the debris, interspersed with isolated Cochlearia, &c., and, where a layer of thinner clay has been deposited in sheltered places, the surface is covered with saxifrages, &c.; and a carpet of mosses allows the arctic willow (Salix polaris) to develop. Where a thin sheet of humus, fertilized by lemmings, has accumulated, a few flowering plants appear, but even so their brilliant flowers spring direct from the soil, concealing the developed leaflets, while their horizontally spread roots grow out of proportion; only the Salix lanata rises to 7 or 8 in., sending out roots I in.
The interior of Novaya Zemlya shows hardly a trace of animal life, save here and there a vagrant bird, a few lemmings, an ice-fox, a brown or white bear, and at times immigrant reindeer.
But (big BUT) as I now have a PSOne, I may get 3D lemmings for it.
In Jameson Land, we look for musk oxen and collared lemmings and predatory long-tailed skua, snowy owl and arctic fox.
Don't forget - you can only lose eight lemmings!
I can't lie to you, its such a temptation, to join the lemmings.
Up the rate, and you should have enough lemmings left over to save your bacon.
Well, that removes the prob keeping other lemmings at bay.
But she did grumble; the mere sight of all these people flopping in like lemmings made her want to shout with frustration.
We had a lot of custom hardware, including touch screens which were great fun for playing Lemmings with.
The usual habitat of lemmings is the high lands or fells of the great central mountain chain of Norway and Sweden, from the southern branches of the Langfjeldene in Christiansand stift to the North Cape and the Varangerfjord.
The two named their band In Praise of Lemmings, but the band had little success.
The first game that put DMA in gamer's radars was Lemmings in the early 1990's.
The simple puzzle game had users assigning various tasks to the mindless lemmings.
These sudden appearances of vast bodies of lemmings, and their singular habit of persistently pursuing the same onward course of migration, have given rise to various speculations, from the ancient belief of the Norwegian peasants, shared by Olaus Magnus, that they fall down from the clouds, to the hypothesis that they are acting in obedience to an instinct inherited from ancient times, and still seeking the congenial home in the submerged Atlantis, to which their ancestors of the Miocene period were wont to resort when driven from their ordinary dwelling-places by crowding or scarcity of food.