DICT.TW Dictionary Taiwan

 Lame a. [Compar. Lamer superl. Lamest.]
 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.
 2. Hence, hobbling; limping; inefficient; imperfect; as, a lame answer. “A lame endeavor.”
    O, most lame and impotent conclusion!   --Shak.
 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.