▪ I. lame, n.1 ? Obs.
(leɪm)
Also 6–7 lamm, 7– lame.
[a. F. lame:—L. lām(m)ina, lāmna thin piece or plate.]
A thin plate, esp. of metal; a thin piece of any substance, a lamina; spec. applied to the small overlapping steel plates used in old armour.
| a 1586 Sidney Arcadia iii. (1500) 288 He strake Phalantus iust vpon the gorget, so as he battred the lamms thereof. 1611 Florio, Ali, wings. Also among armorers called lamms. 1633 J. Done Hist. Septuagint 47 Thinke not it was couered with Plates or Lames of Gold superficially but was made all of solide, massie, pure and fine Gold. 1725 Bradley Fam. Dict. s.v. Nose, It has a great Extent in a small Space, because it wraps up all the bony Lames that stick to the cribrous Bone. 1834 J. R. Planché Brit. Costume 223 The helmet assumes the form of the head, having moveable lames or plates at the back to guard the neck. 1869 Boutell Arms & Arm. viii. 147 To the lower part of this demi-cuirass there was attached a system of articulated lames, or narrow plates, in their contour adapted to cover the figure. 1894 Antiquary Jan. 26 The most curious part of the present suit is the tonlet, a system of lames or half-hoops of steel, which, supported by leather straps inside, descend nearly to the knees in form of a short petticoat. |
▪ II. lame, n.2
[f. lame a.]
† 1. Lameness; infirmity. Obs.
| a 1300 Cursor M. 22323 (Cott.) A mikel man..Luued wel wit-vten lame, wit-vten last al his licam. c 1340 Ibid. 5153 (Trin.), I may not rise he seide for lame. c 1425 Wyntoun Cron. viii. xxxv. 5243 He sayd, that he wald [ayl] na-thyng... Thus hapnyd till hym off this lame. 1500–20 Dunbar Poems xxviii. 34 Off God grit kyndness may ȝe clame, That helpis his peple fra cruke and lame. |
2. U.S. slang. A socially unsophisticated person; one who is not skilled in the behaviour patterns of a particular group.
Freq. in Black English.
| 1959 Esquire Nov. 70 J A lame, one who doesn't know what's happening. A square. 1967 Trans-action: Social Sci. & Community Apr. 5/2 One either knows ‘what's happening’ on the street, or he is a ‘lame’... Negroes..have contributed much to the street tongue... Such expressions as ‘a lame’, ‘taking care of righteous business’..and ‘soul’ can be retraced to Negro street life. 1968 in A. Dundes Mother Wit (1973) 331/1 Who's the lame who says he knows the game And where did he learn to play? 1971 Black Scholar Sept. 39/2 ‘You owe me some buns, lame!’ teased a tall, lanky, yellow young man. 1972 J. Wambaugh Blue Knight (1973) vi. 93 They're a couple of lames trying to groove with the Kids. They're nothing. |
▪ III. lame, a.
(leɪm)
Forms: 1 lama, (lame), loma, 3 lomme, 3–4 lome, 4 lam, 2– lame.
[OE. lama, lǫma (the wk. declension is, from some unexplained cause, used in indefinite as well as definite context, the form in -a being, moreover, commonly used for all genders), corresponding to OFris. lam, lom, OS. lamo (Du. lam), OHG. lam (MHG. lam, mod.G. lahm), ON. lame (wk.):—OTeut. *lamo-; an ablaut-variant is *lômjo- in OHG. luomi, MHG. lüeme dull, slack, gentle, early mod.G. lumm, whence lümmel blockhead. From the same root is OSl. lomitĭ to break.]
1. Of a person or animal: a. Crippled or impaired in any way; weak, infirm; paralysed; unable to move. Const. on, of (cf. 1 c). Obs. exc. arch.
| c 725 Corpus Gloss. 815 Conclamatus, commotus loma. c 900 tr. Bæda's Hist. v. v. (1890) 396 He wæs loma & ealra his lioma þeᵹnunga benumen. c 1000 Ags. Gosp. Matt. ix. 2 Ða brohton hiᵹ hym ænne laman [L. paralyticum] on bedde licᵹende. c 1000 ælfric Gloss. in Wr.-Wülcker 112/32 Pleuriticus, on sidan lama, uel sidadl. Ibid. 162/1 Debilis, uel eneruatus, lame. a 1250 Owl & Night. 363 Ȝet þu me seist on oþer schome þat ich am on mine eȝen lome. a 1300 Cursor M. 5153 (Gött.), I may noght rise, i am sua lame. 1530 Palsgr. 317/1 Lame of all ones lymmes, perclus. 1581 Mulcaster Positions xxii. (1887) 94 They did thinke the childe lame of the one side. 1604 E. Grimstone Hist. Siege Ostend 63 A Germaine..who was lame of halfe his body, and simple. 1878 B. Taylor Deukalion i. iv. 37 One gets old and lame, And then the Gods themselves forget their words. |
b. Crippled through injury to, or defect in, a limb; spec. disabled in the foot or leg, so as to walk haltingly or be unable to walk.
Proverb. to help a lame dog over a stile: see dog n. 17 f.
| c 1000 ælfric Saints' Lives (1885) I. 220 Þa læᵹ þær sum creopare lama fram cild-hade. c 1205 Lay. 19479 Under þe lome [c 1275 lame] mon. a 1300 Cursor M. 8136 An heremite þar þai fand at ham, In þat montan, was halt and lam. 1388 Wyclif 2 Sam. v. 8 A blynde man and lame schulen not entre in to the temple. a 1529 Skelton E. Rummyng 512 Up she stert, halfe lame, And skantly could go For payne and for wo. 1611 Bible 2 Sam. xix. 26 Thy seruant sayd, I will saddle me an asse that I may ride thereon,..because thy seruant is lame. 1762–71 H. Walpole Vertue's Anecd. Paint. (1786) III. 76 He hurt his hip at the fire of London and went lame for the rest of his life. 1871 C. M. Yonge Cameos II. xxx. 314 He kicked her downstairs, so that she broke her leg, and went lame ever after. 1875 Jowett Plato (ed. 2) V. 364 In the use of the hands we are in a manner lame. 1880 Times 18 Sept. 9/5 Lame men might be illustrious warriors like Agesilaus, bold horsemen like Scott, extraordinary swimmers like Byron. |
c. Const. of, in, † on, † with (the crippled part).
| a 1300 Cursor M. 12260 Þat þe poueral get sum bote, And ganging þat ar lame o fote. c 1460 Play Sacram. 768 Jonathas on thyn hand thow art but lame. 1581 Savile Tacitus' Hist. iv. lxxxi. (1591) 232 Another lame of a hande [L. manum æger]. c 1645 Tullie Siege of Carlisle (1840) 36 Hinks,..being lame in that hand he was shot in. 1646 J. Temple Irish Rebell. (1746) 206 Her hand grew black and blew, rankled, and she was extreme lame with it. 1676 Hobbes Iliad ii. 193 Lame of one Leg he was. 1685 Lond. Gaz. No. 2072/4 A Man,..ruddy Countenance,..and lame of one of his little fingers. 1766 Entick London IV. 285 If they were lame in their arms. 1870 L'Estrange Miss Mitford I. v. 132 Poor Marmion is lame in one of his hind legs. |
d. absol.
| a 1000 Elene 1214 (Gr.) Oft him feorran to Laman, limseoce, lefe cwomon. a 1300 Cursor M. 19096 Þe oncall of his hali nam, has lent us hele nu to þis lame. 1377 Langl. P. Pl. B. xix. 120 He made lame to lepe. 1484 Caxton Fables of Alfonce vii. (1889) 272 Of euery lame scabbed and of alle suche that had ony counterfaytour on theyr bodyes he tooke a peny. 1500–20 Dunbar Poems lxxxii. 53 Through streittis nane may mak progres, For cry of cruikit, blind, and lame. 1535 Coverdale Job xxix. 15, I was an eye unto the blynde, and a fote to the lame. a 1619 Daniel (J.), Who reproves the lame, must go upright. 1715 Gay Trivia ii. 51 But above all, the groping blind direct, And from the pressing throng, the lame protect. |
e. said of the limb; also of footsteps, etc.
| a 1300 Cursor M. 17950 His lymmes..ȝit are lame. 1592 Davies Immort. Soul xxx. xiii. (1714) 93 Most Legs can nimbly run, tho' some be lame. a 1656 Bp. Hall Soliloq. 26 What have I got by it but a lame shoulder and a galled back? 1675 W. Harbord Let. to Earl Essex in Essex Papers (Camden) I. 318 Had not my lame foote compelled me to make use of my Coache. 1710 Lond. Gaz. No. 4784/4 The Thumb on his Right Hand is Lame. 1775 Johnson Let. to Mrs. Thrale 17 June, Her present qualifications for the niceties of needlework being dim eyes and lame fingers. 1840 R. H. Dana Bef. Mast xxix. 99 Tossing..from eight to ten thousand hides, until my wrists became so lame that I gave in. 1859 Tennyson Enid 628 Myself would work eye dim, and finger lame. 1885 R. Bridges Eros & Psych, Apr. 24 With footsteps slow and lame They gather'd up their lagging company. |
† f. transf. of trees. Obs.
| 1600 Surflet Country Farm iii. xlvii. 522 Trees become lame when they be planted in too drie a place. Ibid. (margin) Lame trees. |
2. fig. a. Maimed, halting; imperfect or defective, unsatisfactory as wanting a part or parts. Said esp. of an argument, excuse, account, narrative, or the like. † Phr. lame to the ground (cf. Antrim & Down Gloss. s.v. Lame ‘A stab of a bayonet which has lamed me to the ground.’).
| c 1374 Chaucer Troylus ii. Prol. 17 Disblameth my yf ony word be lame. For as myn auctor seyde so sey I. 1390 Gower Conf. II. 218 The gold hath made his wittes lame. 1531 Elyot Gov. i. xxv, That the knowlege and contemplation of Natures operations were lame and..imperfecte, if there followed none actuall experience. 1581 J. Bell Haddon's Answ. Osor. 164 b, Let us yet helpe his lame Logicke as well as we may. 1604 Shakes. Oth. ii. i. 162 Oh most lame and impotent conclusion. 1634 Canne Necess. Separation (1849) 287, I will not contend much with him about the proposition, which is lame to the ground. 1668 Hale Pref. to Rolle's Abridgm. 9 Tables, or other Repertories..are oftentimes short, and give a lame account of the Subject sought for. 1670 Temple Let. to Sir J. Temple Wks. 1731 II. 245, I found the Business of admitting the Emperor into the Guarantee, went downright lame. a 1677 Barrow Serm. Wks. 1686 III. 208 Nothing of worth or weight can be atchieved..with a faint heart, with a lame endeavour. 1699 Bentley Phal. 259 Our Argument from the Date of Phrynichus's Phœnissœ will be very lame and precarious. 1703 Moxon Mech. Exerc. 253 Alterations, or Tearing and pulling the Building to pieces after it is begun..makes the Building lame and Deficient. 1726 Swift Gulliver iii. iii. 197 The theory of comets, which at present is very lame and defective. 1800 E. Hervey Mourtray Fam. II. 104 Her account was so lame and imperfect, that Mrs. Mourtray lost all patience. 1818 Hazlitt Eng. Poets iv. (1870) 100 His grammatical construction is often lame and imperfect. 1867 Freeman Norm. Conq. (1876) I. iv. 218 This certainly seems a very lame story. |
b. Const. of, in (the defective part): cf. 1 c. Also with to and inf.
| c 1366 Chaucer A.B.C. 76 And who so goth to you þe rihte wey Him thar not drede in soule to be lame. a 1420 Hoccleve De Reg. Princ. 2797 Swich vnbuxumnesse Suffred, vs make wol of seuerte lame. 1578 Banister Hist. Man viii. 99 Idiotes and foolish bodyes, who hauyng defect in this [reason], are lame in all the rest. c 1586 C'tess Pembroke Ps. ciii. i, What gratious he..hath done for thee, Be quick to mind, to utter be not lame. 1604 Shakes. Oth. i. iii. 63 Being not deficient, blind, or lame of sense. a 1656 Bp. Hall Soliloq. 35 Alas, we cannot be but lame in all our obediences. 1819 Shelley Peter Bell 3rd vi. xxi. 4 His thoughts grew weak, drowsy, and lame Of their intelligence. 1860 Motley Netherl. (1868) I. iii. 77 This course seemed to be lame in many parts. |
c. Said of metrical ‘feet’ or the verses composed of them: Halting, metrically defective.
| 1600 Shakes. A.Y.L. iii. ii. 178 Cel. That's no matter: the feet might beare y⊇ verses. Ros. I, but the feet were lame and could not beare themselues without the verse. 1608 ― Per. iv. Prol. 48 The lame feete of my rime. 1693 Dryden Persius, Sat. i. (1697) 406 The Prose is Fustian, and the Numbers lame. 1751 Chatham Lett. Nephew i. 1 Your translation..is very close to the sense of the original..the numbers not lame, or rough. |
3. lame duck, (a) (see duck n.1 9); (b) U.S. Politics, an office-holder who is not, or cannot be, re-elected; spec. (before 1933), a defeated member in the short session of Congress after a November election; also attrib.; (c) a ship that is damaged, esp. one left without a means of propulsion; (d) an industry, commercial firm, etc., that cannot survive without financial help, esp. by means of a government subsidy; hence as v. trans. (rare), to help (a disabled person); to lame-duck it: to travel with difficulty; † to come by the lame post: (of news, etc.) to be behind time.
| 1658 Osborn Jas. I iii. Wks. (1673) 469 Till by a lamer Post he was advertised of his being joyfully Proclaimed in London by the Lord Mayor and Aldermen. 1701 Mott in Sir J. Floyer Hot & Cold Bath. ii. 240 Yours of the 24{supt}{suph} of May I received, but it had the misfortune to come by the Lame Post, or else you had sooner received an Answer. 1761, etc. [see duck n.1 9]. 1863 Congress. Globe 14 Jan. 307/1 In no event..could it [sc. the Court of Claims] be justly obnoxious to the charge of being a receptacle of ‘lame ducks’ or broken down politicians. 1876 C. Chapman First Ten Yrs. Sailor's Life at Sea x. 411 A lame duck on the sea means a ship which has been more or less damaged while crossing the perilous ocean. 1910 N.Y. Even. Post 8 Dec. 8 ‘Lame Duck Alley’..is the name they [sc. reporters] have given to a screened-off corridor in the White House offices, where statesmen who went down in the recent electoral combat may meet. 1922 N.Y. Times 6 Dec. 18/2 Senator Norris is all for the plan ‘to have the convening of Congress moved up to avoid lame-duck Congresses’. 1925 Independent (Boston, Mass.) 21 Feb. 213/1 The proposed Constitutional amendment..has been usually designated as the ‘lame-duck’ amendment. 1932 Times 14 Dec. 13/2 A ‘lame duck’ Administration was in power, and a ‘lame duck’ Congress still in being. 1933 P. A. Eaddy Hull Down xiv. 256 Our old ‘lame duck’ had not done so badly after all. 1943 N. Balchin Small Back Room 70 It's so bloody dangerous lame-ducking it home by yourself. 1963 J. Fowles Collector ii. 213, I want to be his friend and lameduck him in London. 1970 New Yorker 14 Nov. 175/3 My father, with his predilection for lame ducks, was the natural person to try to rescue it. 1972 Economist 26 Aug. 8 The Economist calls lame ducks those industries whose survival is claimed to depend on government subsidy. In the United States a lame duck is a politician whose current term is his last, owing to defeat in a primary or general election, or other reasons. 1973 Times 5 June 22/6 The Government, being at that stage still keen on its lame duck policy, refused to help, and the board went away to have a further think. 1973 Listener 29 Nov. 741/1 It is now the Congress..which will be disposing what a lame duck President may propose. |
4. Comb., as lame-born, lame-footed, lame-horsed, lame-legged, † lame-limb adjs.
| 1823 Bentham Not Paul 306 The *lame-born cripple. |
| 1614 Raleigh Hist. World iii. (1634) 67 Seldome the villaine though much haste he make *Lame-footed Vengeance failes to overtake. |
| 1881 Blackmore Christowell xl, Labouring along with the *lame-horsed guns. |
| 1610 Holland Camden's Brit. i. 515 Being skornfully rejected by Judith the mother for that he was *lame-legged. |
| 1583 T. Watson Centurie of Loue xcviii. Poems (Arb.) 134 Loue is..A *Lamelimme Lust. |
Add: [2.] d. Of a person: inept, naive, easily fooled; spec. unskilled in the fashionable behaviour of a particular group, socially inept. Cf. lame n.2 2. slang (orig. and chiefly U.S.).
| 1942 Berrey & Van den Bark Amer. Thes. Slang §491/9 Easy to take, lame, soft,..easily victimized. 1955 Amer. Speech XXX. 303 Lame. Used to describe an oaf. ‘That cat is a real lame stud’... Lame is the opposite of solid. 1961 N.Y. Times Mag. 25 June 39 Lame, square, but not beyond redemption. If you're lame, man, you can learn. 1967 Time 2 June 26 Anyone who does not know that is obviously lame..or perhaps just over 25 and into the twilight of life. 1972 W. Labov Language in Inner City vii. 258 To be lame means to be outside of the central group and its culture. 1990 New Statesman 16 Feb. 12/1 With his top lip curled to signify contempt, he goaded an imaginary hapless friend: ‘You a lame chief, well lame, serious lame!’ 1991 Sun 13 June 23/6 This DJ is lame. 1994 D. Cassidy & C. Deffaa C'mon, Get Happy vi. 61, I don't want to be associated with people I think are lame. |
▪ IV. lame, v.
(leɪm)
[f. lame a.; OE. had lęmian of equivalent formation (= ON. lęmja) which did not survive into ME.]
trans. To make lame; to cripple.
| c 1300 Havelok 2755 Hwan he hauede him so shamed, His hand of plat, and yuele lamed. c 1330 R. Brunne Chron. Wace (Rolls) 1836 Þen was Coryneus a-schamed Þat he was for þe geaunt lamed. 1375 Barbour Bruce iv. 284 The kyng, throu his cheuelry, Wes laid at erd and lamyt bath. c 1440 Promp. Parv. 286/1 Lamyn, or make lame, acclaudico (MS. K. claudico). 1460 Lybeaus Disc. 1917 Hys stede was lamed. 1607 Shakes. Cor. iv. vii. 7, I cannot helpe it now, Vnlesse by vsing meanes I lame the foote Of our designe. 1650 W. Brough Sacr. Princ. (1659) 219 Covetousness..lames the hand to good works. 1700 Dryden Fables, Cock & Fox 644 The son and heir Affronted once a cock of noble kind, And either lam'd his legs, or struck him blind. 1725 De Foe Voy. round World (1840) 338 They killed eleven or twelve..and lamed as many. 1859 Tennyson Elaine 487 A spear Down-glancing lamed the charger. |
b. transf. and fig. To cripple, maim, disable.
| 1568 Satir. Poems Reform. xlvii. 51 Now ȝe ar lamit fra labour, I lament it. 1611 Shakes. Wint. T. v. ii. 62, I neuer heard of such another Encounter; which lames Report to follow it. ― Cymb. v. v. 163 For Feature, laming The shrine of Venus, or straight-pight Minerva. 1699 W. Dampier Voy. II. ii. 129 We kept firing at her, in hopes to have lamed either Mast or Yard. 1865 Carlyle Fredk. Gt. iv. x. (1872) II. 37 The Spanish Navy got well lamed in the business. 1868 Tennyson Lucretius 123 My mind Stumbles, and all my faculties are lamed. 1878 E. Jenkins Haverholme 45 Lamed by the reticence imposed on him as a condition of his office, he had made a halting explanation. |
Hence lamed (leɪmd), ppl. a.
| a 1586 Sidney Arcadia iii. (1590) 293 b, His minde was euill wayted on by his lamed force, so as he receyued still more and more woundes. 1602 F. Herring Anat. 4 One-eyed or lamed Fencers. 1839 Carlyle Chartism iii. (1858) 15 That was a broken reed to lean on..and did but run into his lamed right-hand. |
| absol. 1567 Gude & Godly Ball. (S.T.S.) 67 He haillit the seik, sair, lamit, and blinde. |
▪ V. lame
obs. f. lamb; Sc. and north. dial. f. loam.