laatlammetjie, noun

/ˈlɑːtlaməki//ˈlɑːtlaməci/
Forms:
Also laat lammertjie.
Origin:
AfrikaansShow more Afrikaans, laat late + lam lamb + -ie.
1. A child born long after the other children in a family, an ‘afterthought’; a first child born late in a marriage; late lamb. Also attributive.
1970 A. Palmer Informant, King William’s Town, Eastern CapeThat girl is a laat lammertjie because her youngest brother is twenty years older.
1973 Fair Lady 30 May 113Dr Lee Salk..provides valuable guidelines for parents on explaining new arrivals, sibling rivalry, adoption, and ‘laat lammetjies’.
1975 Fair Lady 17 Sept.She told me that she was born when her mother was 40. ‘I was a laatlammetjie — twelve and sixteen years behind my two brothers and I cried and nagged for a little brother or sister to play with’.
1979 E. Prov. Herald 27 Apr. 20To Manny and Willie a ‘laatlam’ daughter..and sister to Jeanine and Haideé.
1980 Fair Lady 23 Apr. 61Michelle was the start of a new life to Daphne and her husband...They felt quite up to the challenge of their ‘laatlammetjie’.
1981 Sunday Times 25 Oct. 53Mrs Parkin said Rudie was a ‘laatlammetjie’ child who was full of life and ‘the apple of his father’s eye’.
1987 H. Prendini in Style Feb. 33Rossouw is the Bothas’ 18-year-old laatlammetjie. There are almost 25 years between him and the oldest.
1987 L. Beake Strollers 2Ma was determined that Johnny, the laatlammetjie, last and final of her many sons, would not go the same way.
1988 Personality 22 Feb. 4I was a ‘laat-lammetjie,’ there is a 40-year age gap between my parents and myself.
1989 A. Doman in South 7 Sept. 16The laat-lammetjie seventh and last of the Herberts’ offspring came kicking and screaming into the world.
1990 Sunday Times 21 Oct. 3They had waited 13 years for their laatlammetjie.
1991 D. Ashman Informant, Cape Town, Western CapeJane and Betty were almost finished with High School, when, to their intense embarrassment, they were presented with the news that mommy, who was almost 40, was going to have a baby! However, when the ‘laatlammetjie’ arrived they doted on him as if he was their own child and not just their brother.
2. figurative. A latecomer.
1980 Cape Times 30 Aug. 8It is a pity that the National Party’s laat lammetjie Mr John W— is too busy to reply to the voters of Simon’s Town.
A child born long after the other children in a family, an ‘afterthought’; a first child born late in a marriage; late lamb. Also attributive.
A latecomer.
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figurative or allusive
laagte, leegte, nounn.Labarang, nounn.
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