lama

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lama

Tibetan or Mongolian Buddhist monk

Not to be confused with:

llama – an animal with soft woolly fleece

la·ma

(lä′mə)

In Tibetan Buddhism, one who is a religious teacher or is in a position of authority in a monastic community.

[Tibetan bla-ma, perhaps from bla, high, soul.]

American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright © 2016 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

lama

(ˈlɑːmə)

(Buddhism) a priest or monk of Lamaism

[C17: from Tibetan blama]

Collins English Dictionary – Complete and Unabridged, 12th Edition 2014 © HarperCollins Publishers 1991, 1994, 1998, 2000, 2003, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2011, 2014

la•ma

(ˈlɑ mə)

n., pl. -mas.

a Lamaist monk.

[1645–55; < Tibetan lama (sp. bla ma) a monk of high rank, literally, superior one]

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Noun	1.	lama - a Tibetan or Mongolian priest of Lamaism Dalai Lama, Grand Lama - chief lama and once ruler of Tibet Panchen Lama - the lama next in rank to the Dalai Lama non-Christian priest, priest - a person who performs religious duties and ceremonies in a non-Christian religion
	2.	Lama - llamas genus Lama mammal genus - a genus of mammals Camelidae, family Camelidae - camels and llamas and vicunas domestic llama, Lama peruana - used in the Andes as a beast of burden and source of wool; considered a domesticated variety of the guanaco guanaco, Lama guanicoe - wild llama Lama pacos, alpaca - domesticated llama with long silky fleece; believed to be a domesticated variety of the guanaco

lama

noun Buddhist priest, Buddhist monk It takes twenty to twenty-five years to qualify as a lama.

Collins Thesaurus of the English Language – Complete and Unabridged 2nd Edition. 2002 © HarperCollins Publishers 1995, 2002

Translations

lamao

lama

láma

lama

lama

lama

[ˈlɑːmə] N → lama m

Collins Spanish Dictionary - Complete and Unabridged 8th Edition 2005 © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1971, 1988 © HarperCollins Publishers 1992, 1993, 1996, 1997, 2000, 2003, 2005

lama

[ˈlɑːmə] n → lama m

Collins English/French Electronic Resource. © HarperCollins Publishers 2005

lama

n (Rel) → Lama m

Collins German Dictionary – Complete and Unabridged 7th Edition 2005. © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1980 © HarperCollins Publishers 1991, 1997, 1999, 2004, 2005, 2007

lama

[ˈlɑːmə] n (Rel) → lama m inv

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References in classic literature ?

I am no Khitai, but a Bhotiya [Tibetan], since you must know - a lama - or, say, a guru in your tongue.'

In open-mouthed wonder the lama turned to this and that, and finally checked in rapt attention before a large alto- relief representing a coronation or apotheosis of the Lord Buddha.

It is Sakya Muni himself,' the lama half sobbed; and under his breath began the wonderful Buddhist invocation:

A white-bearded Englishman was looking at the lama, who gravely turned and saluted him and after some fumbling drew forth a note-book and a scrap of paper.

'One of us who had made pilgrimage to the Holy Places - he is now Abbot of the Lung-Cho Monastery - gave it me,' stammered the lama. 'He spoke of these.' His lean hand moved tremulously round.

The lama, haltingly at first, spoke to the Curator of his own lamassery, the Such-zen, opposite the Painted Rocks, four months' march away.

'Ay, ay!' The lama mounted a pair of horn-rimmed spectacles of Chinese work.

Out shuffled the lama to the main hall, and, the Curator beside him, went through the collection with the reverence of a devotee and the appreciative instinct of a craftsman.

And they went at it all over again, the lama taking snuff, wiping his spectacles, and talking at railway speed in a bewildering mixture of Urdu and Tibetan.

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Aunt Ablewhite would listen to the Grand Lama of Thibet exactly as she listens to Me, and would reflect his views quite as readily as she reflects mine.

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I travelled for two years in Tibet, therefore, and amused myself by visiting Lhassa, and spending some days with the head lama. You may have read of the remarkable explorations of a Norwegian named Sigerson, but I am sure that it never occurred to you that you were receiving news of your friend.

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And he met Thibetan herdsmen with their dogs and flocks of sheep, each sheep with a little bag of borax on his back, and wandering wood-cutters, and cloaked and blanketed Lamas from Thibet, coming into India on pilgrimage, and envoys of little solitary Hill-states, posting furiously on ring-streaked and piebald ponies, or the cavalcade of a Rajah paying a visit; or else for a long, clear day he would see nothing more than a black bear grunting and rooting below in the valley.

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