Definitions
American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
- n. An elected officeholder or group continuing in office during the period between failure to win an election and the inauguration of a successor.
- n. An officeholder who has chosen not to run for reelection or is ineligible for reelection.
- n. An ineffective person; a weakling.
Wiktionary
- n. colloquial A person or thing that is helpless, inefficient or disabled.
- n. US, politics An elected official who has lost the recent election or is not eligible for reelection and is marking time until leaving office.
GNU Webster's 1913
- n. See under Lame.
- adj. (Stock Exchange), [Cant] Any office holder who is serving out a term after a replacement has been selected.
WordNet 3.0
- n. an elected official still in office but not slated to continue
Etymologies
- 18th century - A person who had defaulted in the London Stock Exchange was said to waddle out of Exchange Alley like a lame duck. (Wiktionary)
Examples
“A term of service in the hospice at the far edge of the town might also serve more turns than Meriet's, for Brother Mark, who tended the sick there, had been Cadfael's most valued assistant until a year or so ago, and he had recently suffered the loss of his favourite and much-indulged waif, the little boy Bran, taken into the household of Joscelin and Iveta Lucy on their marriage, and would be somewhat lost without a lame duck to cosset and care for.”
“Thinking of him now, and then considering Renee’s lame duck — yes, I see they are a rum couple.”
Lists
These user-created lists contain the word ‘lame duck’.
-
POL - cool collocations (Adj+Noun)
strident criticism, devolved approach, lax control, serious misgivings, incessant negotia..., fundamental task, controversial plan, fierce criticism, lengthy consultation, public confidence, central point, final push and 183 more...
-
Duck!
If it looks like a duck, swims like a duck, or quacks like a duck, then you should probably list it here.
duck, Duck, turducken, duckling, duck tape, Mallard, rubber duckie, Daffy Duck, Donald Duck, lame duck, ducky, ducks and 95 more...
-
AFET - diplomacy
broker a peace ac..., client state, deadlocked peace ..., embassy, freeze, goodwill ambassador, hinterland, interfere in dome..., intervene personally, maintain technica..., mediation, no business as usual and 670 more...
-
POL - scandalous (words and collocati...
Words and collocations associated with political scandal
blow the whistle, boo, cronyism and rigging, democratic deficit, denigrate, dirty linen, fiasco, finger pointing a..., graft, hidden account, hush money, illicit financing... and 578 more...
-
POL - elections
weak democracy, stand a chance ag..., whistle stop, special interest ..., voting machine, trumpeting support, voting power, to court votes, war chest, short-term observ..., soak-the-rich lef..., term of office and 930 more...
-
Genes
Interesting gene names. Some of these may have changed recently (to something less offensive/funny).
http://www.genenames.org/
tinman, agnostic, dreadlocks, Van Gogh, fruitless, lava lamp, ariadne, cheap date, ken and barbie, I'm not dead yet, I'm not dead yet 2, manic fringe and 1192 more... -
EN - cool expressions
Trendy, funny or highly descriptive collocations
overstep the mark, open a big can of..., bad hair day, the icing on the ..., low-hanging fruit, ripple effect, big cheese, tackle an issue h..., root-and-branch r..., throw good money ..., open Pandora's box, place on the back... and 147 more...
-
Insulting nicknames for politicians
Some of these terms are old-fashioned, but they might still come in handy.
snollygoster, slang-whanger, bloviator, fence-sitter, flip-flopper, log roller, mossback, lame duck, mugwump, spinmeister, ward heeler, loose cannon
-
Candy Hearts
Four letters (or less) per row. http://acme.com/heartmaker/
frog love, dumb luck, pink lips, soul mate, wart hog, junk food, spoo ning, blue pill, city dust, buck wild, bull dust, tear bear and 72 more...
-
that's just beastly!
cat-o-nine-tails, snake in the grass, puppy love, white elephant, crocodile tears, monkey business, keep the wolf fro..., culture vulture, black sheep of th..., scapegoat, ugly duckling, swan song and 260 more...
-
And another
retrocausality, brusque, gainsay, cheerio, jaundiced, chamois, caw, craw, fudge, bubbler, shebang, bolo and 244 more...
-
Special Beasts
I'm looking for compounds or phrases where the character of an animal is essential to the meaning, yet the term is usable in general conversation.
scapegoat, bull market, sacred cow, bear market, hangdog, cat o' nine tails, clothes horse, mousey, donkey drop, black sheep, horseplay, ducks and drakes and 94 more...
-
Noah's Park
Hello, and Welcome™! Come and visit our most diverse land of our Animalesque™ adventures. Here at Noah's Park™ we have Virtually All You'd Ever Want To See™. An experience that is related to ani...
sheep's eyes, doe-eyed, cat-eyed, bug-eyed, cat's paw, black swan, leapfrog, menagerie, cold turkey, card shark, snail's pace, bull's eye and 362 more...
-
Wirds of a Feather
Phrases and figures of speech in which birds are featured. Or feathers. Or such like.
a little bird tol..., to have an albatr..., birds of a feathe..., in the catbird seat, cold turkey, to cook one's goose, don't count your ..., to have one's duc..., to eat crow, a feather in one'..., for the birds, flip the bird and 122 more...
-
Animalia Wordia
Words or short phrases with animal names in them. Since I already have a dedicated list for 'monkey' words I shall leave them out of this one for the moment.
paper tiger, pigeon-hearted, lion-hearted, sacred cow, chicken heart, fraidy cat, scaredy-cat, snake oil, can of worms, snake pit, rat's nest, stool pigeon and 114 more...
-
vivek's list
flibbertigibbet, droll, reticence, prelude, erinaceous, brinkmanship, depone, inaniloquent, limerance, pronk, onomatopoeia, oxymoron and 385 more...
Tweets
Looking for tweets for lame duck.
skipvia I might go just to watch her squirm. Jul 9, 2009
reesetee Damn! There I was in Fairbanks, just a month before the governor's annual picnic! Skip, are you attending? Jul 9, 2009
skipvia I'm also fond of Bil Maher's term retarded flight attendant, although it's a slam on both cognitively challenged people and flight attendants. Jul 6, 2009
skipvia I'm going to start using the term lame schmuck. Jul 6, 2009
chained_bear Yeah, who knew lame duck could mean "someone who's so lame, they won't even finish their term in office." Jul 6, 2009
dontcry There's a lipstick-wearing duck joke in there somewhere... Jul 4, 2009
skipvia As Alaskans, we're so proud that our ex-governor has given a whole new meaning to this term. Jul 4, 2009
chained_bear See stuff on this list and on lame duckery. Jan 11, 2009