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lame

1
[leym]
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adjective, lam·er, lam·est.

crippled or physically disabled, especially in the foot or leg so as to limp or walk with difficulty.
impaired or disabled through defect or injury: a lame arm.
weak; inadequate; unsatisfactory; clumsy: a lame excuse.
Slang. out of touch with modern fads or trends; unsophisticated.

verb (used with object), lamed, lam·ing.

to make lame or defective.

noun

Slang. a person who is out of touch with modern fads or trends, especially one who is unsophisticated.

Origin of lame

1
before 900; Middle English (adj. and v.); Old English lama (adj.); cognate with Dutch lam, German lahm, Old Norse lami; akin to Lithuanian lúomas
Related formslame·ly, adverblame·ness, noun
Can be confusedlame lamé
Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2019

Related Words for lameness

hitch, halt, floppy, falter, hobble, gimp, incapacity, languor, inadequacy, enervation, exhaustion, senility, weakness, incompetence, delicacy, decrepitude, insufficiency, malaise, frailty, infirmity

Examples from the Web for lameness

Contemporary Examples of lameness

Historical Examples of lameness

British Dictionary definitions for lameness

lamé

noun

  1. a fabric of silk, cotton, or wool interwoven with threads of metal
  2. (as modifier)a gold lamé gown

Word Origin for lamé

from French, from Old French lame gold or silver thread, thin plate, from Latin lāmina thin plate

lame

1

adjective

disabled or crippled in the legs or feet
painful or weaka lame back
weak; unconvincinga lame excuse
not effective or enthusiastica lame try
US slang conventional or uninspiring

verb

(tr) to make lame
Derived Formslamely, adverblameness, noun

Word Origin for lame

Old English lama; related to Old Norse lami, German lahm

lame

2

noun

one of the overlapping metal plates used in armour after about 1330; splint

Word Origin for lame

C16: via Old French from Latin lāmina a thin plate, lamina
Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012
Word Origin and History for lameness
n.

1520s, from lame (adj.) + -ness.

lame

n.

"silk interwoven with metallic threads," 1922, from French lame, earlier "thin metal plate (especially in armor), gold wire; blade; wave (of the sea)," from Middle French lame, from Latin lamina, lamna "thin piece or flake of metal."

lame

adj.

Old English lama "crippled, lame; paralytic, weak," from Proto-Germanic *lamon (cf. Old Norse lami, Dutch and Old Frisian lam, German lahm "lame"), "weak-limbed," literally "broken," from PIE root *lem- "to break; broken," with derivatives meaning "crippled" (cf. Old Church Slavonic lomiti "to break," Lithuanian luomas "lame"). In Middle English, "crippled in the feet," but also "crippled in the hands; disabled by disease; maimed." Sense of "socially awkward" is attested from 1942. Noun meaning "crippled persons collectively" is in late Old English.

lame

v.

"to make lame," c.1300, from lame (adj.). Related: Lamed; laming.

Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper
lameness in Medicine

lame

[lām]

adj.

Disabled so that movement, especially walking, is difficult or impossible.
Marked by pain or rigidness.

v.

To cause to become lame; cripple.
The American Heritage® Stedman's Medical Dictionary Copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Company.