Examples
2 sentencesAh, that's why the lame ducks are jealous.
Now the President is nothing but a lame duck.
Meaning
1 senses(informal)To behave in the manner of a lame duck.
Origin
Equivalent to lame + duck. First use appears c. 1761, in the London Evening Post. DerivedEquivalent 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.
Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0 · source
Forms
lame ducks, lame ducking, lame ducked, lame duckedregular
| Base form | lame duck · to lame duck |
|---|---|
| 3rd person singular | lame ducks |
| Present participle | lame ducking |
| Past simple | lame ducked |
| Past participle | lame ducked |
Tenses
lame duck · lame ducked · will lame duck · have lame duckedPoint at a form to see it in a sentence.Tap a form to see it in a sentence.
Word family
2 related wordsLessons for this word
3 lessons- A1Present simple — Because it is a verb
- A1Past simple, irregular verbs — Because of its past form
- A2Present perfect: introduction — Because of its past participle
See also
neighbours in the dictionaryDictionary text adapted from Wiktionary (Wiktionary contributors, CC BY-SA 4.0) and Open English WordNet / Princeton WordNet (CC BY 4.0, WordNet License); shared under CC BY-SA 4.0. Example sentences and recordings are credited where they appear.