Wiktionary

lame

See also: Appendix:Variations of "lame"

English

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Pronunciation

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Etymology 1

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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”).[1]

Adjective

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lame (comparative lamer, superlative lamest)

  1. (especially of an animal) Unable to walk properly because of a problem with one's feet or legs.
    Synonym: crippled
    With the years, this horse has little by little gone lame
    .
    • 1850, [Alfred, Lord Tennyson], “Canto XXIII”, in In Memoriam, London: Edward Moxon, […], →OCLC, page 39:
      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; […]
    1. (of a limb, especially a foot or leg) That cannot be moved properly.
      Synonym: gammy
    2. (dated, now offensive) Physically disabled.
      a lame man
  2. (by extension, dated) Hobbling; limping; inefficient; imperfect.
    Antonyms: efficient, perfect
    • 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:
      a lame endeavour
    • 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]:
      O, most lame and impotent conclusion! […]
    • 1801, Isaac Watts, The improvement of the mind, or A supplement to the art of logic:
      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.
    • 1856, J. W. Redhouse, An English and Turkish Dictionary‎[2], page xx:
      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.
  3. (colloquial) Unconvincing or unbelievable.
    Synonym: weak
    Antonyms: convincing, believable
    He had a really lame excuse for missing the birthday party.
  4. (colloquial) Uncool, uninteresting, or unfunny.
    He kept telling these extremely lame jokes all night.
Derived terms
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Translations
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The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout § Translations.
Translations to be checked

Verb

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lame (third-person singular simple present lames, present participle laming, simple past and past participle lamed)

  1. (transitive) To cause (a person or animal) to become lame.
    Synonyms: cripple, disable
Translations
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Noun

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lame (plural lames)

  1. (prison slang) A stupid or undesirable person.
    • 2011, Lil' Kim, “Black Friday”:
      You lames tryna clone my style and run wit it.

Etymology 2

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From Middle French lame, from Latin lāmina. Doublet of lamina.

Noun

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A bread lame

lame (plural lames)

  1. A thin layer or plate of material, as in certain kinds of armor.
    Synonyms: lamella (sometimes diminutive), lamina (sometimes synonymous)
    • 2013, Paul F Walker, History of Armour 1100-1700, Crowood, →ISBN:
      This rim involved a raised rolled edge on the rerebrace that was inserted into a raised lip on the lower lame of the pauldron. This lip allows the arm to rotate without the need for leather straps and can be clearly seen carved on to the effigy […]
    • 2015, Anne Curry, Malcolm Mercer, The Battle of Agincourt, Yale University Press, →ISBN, page 120:
      These pauldrons are generally asymmetrical with the left pauldron wider than the right, which is cut away for the passage of the lance. It would be attached to the shoulder by points through a restored leather tab on the top lame at the apex […]
  2. (in the plural) A set of joined overlapping metal plates.
  3. A kitchen tool for scoring bread dough before baking.
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Translations
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References

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  1. ^ Kroonen, Guus (2013) “*lamjan- w.v. ‘to beat (up), cripple’”, in Etymological Dictionary of Proto-Germanic (Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series; 11)‎[1], Leiden, Boston: Brill, →ISBN, page 326

Anagrams

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Esperanto

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Pronunciation

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  • IPA(key): /ˈlame/
  • Rhymes: -ame
  • Hyphenation: la‧me

Adverb

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lame

  1. lamely

Estonian

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Etymology

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From lamama +‎ -e.

Adjective

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lame (genitive lameda, partitive lamedat, comparative lamedam, superlative kõige lamedam)

  1. flat

Declension

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Declension of lame (ÕS type 2/õpik, no gradation)
singular plural
nominative lame lamedad
accusative nom.
gen. lameda
genitive lamedate
partitive lamedat lamedaid
illative lamedasse lamedatesse
lamedaisse
inessive lamedas lamedates
lamedais
elative lamedast lamedatest
lamedaist
allative lamedale lamedatele
lamedaile
adessive lamedal lamedatel
lamedail
ablative lamedalt lamedatelt
lamedailt
translative lamedaks lamedateks
lamedaiks
terminative lamedani lamedateni
essive lamedana lamedatena
abessive lamedata lamedateta
comitative lamedaga lamedatega

French

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Etymology

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Inherited from Latin lāmina, through the accusative lāminam. Doublet of lamine, a borrowing.

Pronunciation

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Noun

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lame f (plural lames)

  1. lamina
  2. blade
  3. wave
  4. tarot card
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Descendants

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  • → Catalan: llama
  • → Italian: lama
  • → Persian: لام (lâm, “microscope slide”)

Further reading

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Anagrams

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Friulian

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Etymology

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Ultimately from Latin lāmina. Compare Romansch loma, lama, French lame, Italian and Venetan lama.

Noun

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lame f (plural lamis)

  1. blade

German

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Etymology

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From the English adjective lame.

Adjective

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lame (strong nominative masculine singular lamer, not comparable)

  1. (slang) boring; unimpressive
  2. (slang) unskilled; useless
    Ich wollte nicht sagen, dass das, was die machen, total lame ist.
    I didn’t want to say that what they are doing is totally lame.

Declension

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Positive forms of lame (uncomparable)
number & gender singular plural
masculine feminine neuter
predicative er ist lame sie ist lame es ist lame sie sind lame
strong declension
(without article) 		nominative lamer lame lames lame
genitive lamen lamer lamen lamer
dative lamem lamer lamem lamen
accusative lamen lame lames lame
weak declension
(with definite article) 		nominative der lame die lame das lame die lamen
genitive des lamen der lamen des lamen der lamen
dative dem lamen der lamen dem lamen den lamen
accusative den lamen die lame das lame die lamen
mixed declension
(with indefinite article) 		nominative ein lamer eine lame ein lames (keine) lamen
genitive eines lamen einer lamen eines lamen (keiner) lamen
dative einem lamen einer lamen einem lamen (keinen) lamen
accusative einen lamen eine lame ein lames (keine) lamen

Italian

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Pronunciation

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  • IPA(key): /ˈla.me/
  • Rhymes: -ame
  • Hyphenation: là‧me

Noun

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lame f

  1. plural of lama

Anagrams

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Mauritian Creole

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Etymology

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From French main.

Pronunciation

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Noun

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lame

  1. hand

Middle English

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Verb

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lame

  1. To shine.
    (Can we find and add a quotation of Piers Plowman to this entry?)

Norwegian Nynorsk

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Etymology 1

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Adjective

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lame

  1. (non-standard since 2012) definite singular of lam
  2. (non-standard since 2012) plural of lam

Etymology 2

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Noun

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lame m (definite singular lameen, indefinite plural lamear, definite plural lameane)

  1. alternative spelling of lamé

Old English

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Pronunciation

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Noun

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lāme

  1. dative singular of lām

Old French

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Noun

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lame oblique singular, f (oblique plural lames, nominative singular lame, nominative plural lames)

  1. blade (of a weapon)

Romanian

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Pronunciation

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Noun

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lame f

  1. inflection of lamă:
    1. indefinite plural
    2. indefinite genitive/dative singular

Spanish

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Pronunciation

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  • IPA(key): /ˈlame/ [ˈla.me]
  • Rhymes: -ame
  • Syllabification: la‧me

Verb

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lame

  1. inflection of lamer:
    1. third-person singular present indicative
    2. second-person singular imperative

Swedish

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Adjective

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lame

  1. definite natural masculine singular of lam
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