English · Slang Attested

lame duck

In real, traceable use. Part of the curated seed collection; community review is coming.

Sense 1

Both English Tiếng Việt

Meaning · English

A person who cannot fulfill their contracts.

Nghĩa · Tiếng Việt

người không thể thực hiện hợp đồng

Machine-translated — suggest a fix

Where it’s used: Used American English

Examples

Yet of all the lame ducks I've met or heard of, she's the lamest.

And, to mix a metaphor, France's lame ducks may have become an albatross around his neck.

British National Corpus sentence via the MAGPIE corpus (CC BY 4.0, retrieved 2026-07-30)

Sources & notes

Adapted from English Wiktionary (CC BY-SA 4.0, retrieved 2026-07-30 via kaikki.org). Figurative class: Metaphor (PIE-English corpus, CC BY 4.0, retrieved 2026-07-31).

Sense 2

Both English Tiếng Việt

Meaning · English

a stockjobber who speculates beyond his capital, and cannot pay his losses. Upon retiring from the Exchange he is said to "waddle out of the Alley."

Nghĩa · Tiếng Việt

người đầu tư quá khả năng

Machine-translated — suggest a fix

Era: ca. 1874 (Victorian)

Where it’s used: Origin British & Irish English

Sources & notes

Historical definition reproduced from Hotten’s The Slang Dictionary (1874, public domain; Project Gutenberg #42108, retrieved 2026-07-31). Reflects the attitudes of its era.

Topics: Ducks & geese Historical slang (1800s)

Common questions

What does “lame duck” mean?

A person who cannot fulfill their contracts.

Is “lame duck” formal or informal?

lame duck is generally dated, slang.