lame
Language: English
Part of speech: adj
Pronunciation: ipa: /leɪm/
rhymes: -eɪm
Forms: form: lamer
form: lamest
Etymology: From Middle English lame, from Old English lama (“lame”), from Proto-West Germanic *lam, from Proto-Germanic *lamaz (“lame”), from Proto-Indo-European *h₃lemH- (“to tire; to break”).
Senses: examples: text: With the years, this horse has little by little gone lame.
text: Alone, alone, to where he sits,
The Shadow cloak’d from head to foot
Who keeps the keys of all the creeds,
⁠I wander, often falling lame,
And looking back to whence I came,
Or on to where the pathway leads; […]
ref: 1850, [Alfred, Lord Tennyson], “Canto XXIII”, in In Memoriam, London: Edward Moxon, […], →OCLC, page 39:
synonyms: crippled
glosses: Unable to walk properly because of a problem with one's feet or legs.
raw_tags: of an animal
synonyms: crippled
gammy
glosses: Unable to walk properly because of a problem with one's feet or legs.
That cannot be moved properly.
qualifier: especially a foot or leg
raw_tags: of a limb
of an animal
examples: text: a lame man
synonyms: crippled
glosses: Unable to walk properly because of a problem with one's feet or legs.
Physically disabled.
raw_tags: of an animal
examples: text: a lame endeavour
ref: a. 1678 (date written), Isaac Barrow, “(please specify the chapter name or sermon number). Of Industry in General”, in The Works of Dr. Isaac Barrow. […], volume (please specify |volume=I to VII), London: A[braham] J[ohn] Valpy, […], published 1830–1831, →OCLC:
text: O, most lame and impotent conclusion![…]
ref: c. 1603–1604 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of Othello, the Moore of Venice”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act II, scene i]:
text: It is the remark of an ingenious writer, should a barbarous Indian, who had never seen a palace or a ship, view their separate and disjointed parts, and observe the pillars, doors, windows, cornices and turrets of the one, or the prow and stern, the ribs and masts, the ropes and shrouds, the sails and tackle of the other, he would be able to form but a very lame and dark idea of either of those excellent and useful inventions.
ref: 1801, Isaac Watts, The improvement of the mind, or A supplement to the art of logic:
text: The ی consonant is our English y[…] It is really a sad mistake for us, who possess this useful consonant, to adopt the lame expedient to which other languages are forced to have recourse, namely, the use of the vowel i, with or without the diaresis over it.
ref: 1856, J. W. Redhouse, An English and Turkish Dictionary, page xx:
antonyms: efficient
perfect
glosses: Hobbling; limping; inefficient; imperfect.
examples: text: He had a really lame excuse for missing the birthday party.
synonyms: weak
antonyms: convincing
believable
glosses: Unconvincing or unbelievable.
examples: text: He kept telling these extremely lame jokes all night.
glosses: Uncool, uninteresting, or unfunny.
Derived terms: crutches for lame ducks
help a lame dog over a stile
lamage
lameass
lamebrain
lamebrained
lame duck
lame-head
lamehead
lamely
lameness
lame-o
lameo
lameoid
lamesauce
lame sickness
lamester
lamestream
lame-stream
lametastic
lamewad
lamish
unlame