'Lame duck' definitions:

Definition of 'lame duck'

From: WordNet
noun
An elected official still in office but not slated to continue

Definition of 'Lame duck'

From: GCIDE
  • Lame \Lame\ (l[=a]m), a. [Compar. Lamer (l[=a]m"[~e]r); superl. Lamest.] [OE. lame, AS. lama; akin to D. lam, G. lahm, OHG., Dan., & Sw. lam, Icel. lami, Russ. lomate to break, lomota rheumatism.] 1. (a) Moving with pain or difficulty on account of injury, defect, or temporary obstruction of a function; as, a lame leg, arm, or muscle. (b) To some degree disabled by reason of the imperfect action of a limb; crippled; as, a lame man. "Lame of one leg." --Arbuthnot. "Lame in both his feet." --2 Sam. ix. 13. "He fell, and became lame." --2 Sam. iv. 4. [1913 Webster]
  • 2. Hence, hobbling; limping; inefficient; imperfect; as, a lame answer. "A lame endeavor." --Barrow. [1913 Webster]
  • O, most lame and impotent conclusion! --Shak. [1913 Webster]
  • Lame duck (a) (Stock Exchange), a person who can not fulfill his contracts. [Cant] (b) An elected politician who is completing a term after having been defeated at an election; also, an office holder who cannot or chooses not to run again for the same office; -- So called from the presumed lack of political power of one who is soon to be out of office. (b) Any office holder who is serving out a term after a replacement has been selected. [1913 Webster +PJC]

Definition of 'Lame duck'

From: GCIDE
  • Duck \Duck\, n. [OE. duke, doke. See Duck, v. t. ]
  • 1. (Zool.) Any bird of the subfamily Anatin[ae], family Anatid[ae]. [1913 Webster]
  • Note: The genera and species are numerous. They are divided into river ducks and sea ducks. Among the former are the common domestic duck (Anas boschas); the wood duck (Aix sponsa); the beautiful mandarin duck of China (Dendronessa galeriliculata); the Muscovy duck, originally of South America (Cairina moschata). Among the sea ducks are the eider, canvasback, scoter, etc. [1913 Webster]
  • 2. A sudden inclination of the bead or dropping of the person, resembling the motion of a duck in water. [1913 Webster]
  • Here be, without duck or nod, Other trippings to be trod. --Milton. [1913 Webster]
  • Bombay duck (Zool.), a fish. See Bummalo.
  • Buffel duck, Spirit duck. See Buffel duck.
  • Duck ant (Zool.), a species of white ant in Jamaica which builds large nests in trees.
  • Duck barnacle. (Zool.) See Goose barnacle.
  • Duck hawk. (Zool.) (a) In the United States: The peregrine falcon. (b) In England: The marsh harrier or moor buzzard.
  • Duck mole (Zool.), a small aquatic mammal of Australia, having webbed feet and a bill resembling that of a duck (Ornithorhynchus anatinus). It belongs the subclass Monotremata and is remarkable for laying eggs like a bird or reptile; -- called also duckbill, platypus, mallangong, mullingong, tambreet, and water mole.
  • To make ducks and drakes, to throw a flat stone obliquely, so as to make it rebound repeatedly from the surface of the water, raising a succession of jets; hence:
  • To play at ducks and drakes, with property, to throw it away heedlessly or squander it foolishly and unprofitably.
  • Lame duck. See under Lame. [1913 Webster]

Synonyms of 'lame duck'

From: Moby Thesaurus