Lame \Lame\ (l[=a]m), v. t. [imp. & p. p. Lamed (l[=a]md); p.
pr. & vb. n. Laming.]
To make lame.
[1913 Webster]
If you happen to let child fall and lame it. --Swift.
[1913 Webster]
The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48
Lame \Lame\ (l[=a]m), a. [Compar. Lamer (l[=a]m"[~e]r);
superl. Lamest.] [OE. lame, AS. lama; akin to D. lam, G.
lahm, OHG., Dan., & Sw. lam, Icel. lami, Russ. lomate to
break, lomota rheumatism.]
1.
(a) Moving with pain or difficulty on account of injury,
defect, or temporary obstruction of a function; as, a
lame leg, arm, or muscle.
(b) To some degree disabled by reason of the imperfect
action of a limb; crippled; as, a lame man. "Lame of
one leg." --Arbuthnot. "Lame in both his feet." --2
Sam. ix. 13. "He fell, and became lame." --2 Sam. iv.
4.
[1913 Webster]
2. Hence, hobbling; limping; inefficient; imperfect; as, a
lame answer. "A lame endeavor." --Barrow.
[1913 Webster]
O, most lame and impotent conclusion! --Shak.
[1913 Webster]
Lame duck
(a) (Stock Exchange), a person who can not fulfill his
contracts. [Cant]
(b) An elected politician who is completing a term after
having been defeated at an election; also, an office
holder who cannot or chooses not to run again for the
same office; -- So called from the presumed lack of
political power of one who is soon to be out of
office.
(b) Any office holder who is serving out a term after a
replacement has been selected.
[1913 Webster +PJC]
The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48
lame
adj 1: pathetically lacking in force or effectiveness; "a feeble
excuse"; "a lame argument" [syn: feeble]
2: (of horses) disabled in the feet or legs [syn: spavined]
3: disabled in the feet or legs; "a crippled soldier"; "a game
leg" [syn: crippled, halt, halting, game]
n 1: someone who doesn't understand what is going on [syn: square]
2: a fabric interwoven with threads of metal; "she wore a gold
lame dress"
v : deprive of the use of a limb, especially a leg; "The
accident has crippled her for life" [syn: cripple]
WordNet (r) 2.0
99 Moby Thesaurus words for "lame":
abortive, awkward, bad, bootless, bugger, burden, castrate,
castrated, clumsy, cramp, cripple, crippled, cumber, de-energize,
debilitate, disable, disabled, disenable, drain, emasculate,
emasculated, embarrass, encumber, enfeeble, enmesh, ensnarl,
entangle, entoil, entrammel, entrap, entwine, failed, failing,
feeble, fetter, flimsy, fruitless, futile, game, half-baked, halt,
halting, hamper, hamstring, hamstrung, handicap, handicapped,
hobble, hobbled, hobbling, hors de combat, impaired, impede,
inactivate, incapacitate, incapacitated, ineffective, ineffectual,
inefficacious, involve, kibosh, lime, limping, lumber, maim,
maimed, manque, miscarried, miscarrying, net, of no effect, poor,
press down, put, queer, queer the works, sabotage, saddle with,
shackle, snarl, spavined, spike, stickit, stillborn, successless,
tangle, thin, toil, trammel, unconvincing, unfit, unfortunate,
unsuccessful, useless, weak, weaken, weigh down, wing, wreck
Moby Thesaurus II by Grady Ward, 1.0
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