Meaning

4 senses

  1. (colloquial)A person or thing that is helpless, inefficient, or disabled.

  2. (US)An elected official who has lost the recent election or is not eligible for reelection and is marking time until leaving office.

    Congressman Jones was a lame duck and did not vote on many issues that were important to his constituents.

    an elected official still in office but not slated to continue

  3. (dated, slang)A person who cannot fulfill their contracts.

  4. A server that continues to serve ongoing requests while refusing new ones, allowing for graceful shutdown.

Examples

2 sentences

  1. Ah, that's why the lame ducks are jealous.

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  2. Now the President is nothing but a lame duck.

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Origin

Equivalent to lame + duck. First use appears c. 1761, in the London Evening Post. Derived

Equivalent to lame + duck. First use appears c. 1761, in the London Evening Post. Derived from the situation in which a person who had defaulted in the London Stock Exchange was said to waddle out of Exchange Alley like a lame duck. Verbal form first appears c. 1910.

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Forms

plural: lame ducks

Synonyms

1 synonyms
duckA2

See also

neighbours in the dictionary
lambertlameB2lamentC2laminate
lame duck — meaning, examples, forms, synonyms | Krumeto