LAME

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

IPA (US):

 Dictionary entry overview: What does lame mean? 

• LAME (noun)
  The noun LAME has 2 senses:

1. someone who doesn't understand what is going on

2. a fabric interwoven with threads of metal

  Familiarity information: LAME used as a noun is rare.

• LAME (adjective)
  The adjective LAME has 2 senses:

1. pathetically lacking in force or effectiveness

2. disabled in the feet or legs

  Familiarity information: LAME used as an adjective is rare.

• LAME (verb)
  The verb LAME has 1 sense:

1. deprive of the use of a limb, especially a leg

  Familiarity information: LAME used as a verb is very rare.

 Dictionary entry details 

• LAME (noun)

Sense 1

Meaning:

Someone who doesn't understand what is going on

Classified under:

Nouns denoting people

Synonyms:

lame; square

Hypernyms ("lame" is a kind of...):

simple; simpleton (a person lacking intelligence or common sense)

Sense 2

Meaning:

A fabric interwoven with threads of metal

Classified under:

Nouns denoting man-made objects

Context example:

she wore a gold lame dress

Hypernyms ("lame" is a kind of...):

cloth; fabric; material; textile (artifact made by weaving or felting or knitting or crocheting natural or synthetic fibers)

• LAME (adjective)

Comparative: lamer   
Superlative: lamest   

Sense 1

Meaning:

Pathetically lacking in force or effectiveness

Synonyms:

feeble; lame

Context example:

a lame argument

Similar:

weak (wanting in physical strength)

Derivation:

lameness (an imperfection or defectiveness)

Sense 2

Meaning:

Disabled in the feet or legs

Synonyms:

crippled; game; gimpy; halt; halting; lame

Context example:

a game leg

Similar:

unfit (not in good physical or mental condition; out of condition)

Derivation:

lameness (disability of walking due to crippling of the legs or feet)

• LAME (verb)

Present simple: I / you / we / they lame    ... he / she / it lames   
Past simple: lamed   
Past participle: lamed   
-ing form: laming   

Sense 1

Meaning:

Deprive of the use of a limb, especially a leg

Classified under:

Verbs of grooming, dressing and bodily care

Synonyms:

cripple; lame

Context example:

The accident has crippled her for life

Hypernyms (to "lame" is one way to...):

maim (injure or wound seriously and leave permanent disfiguration or mutilation)

Troponyms (each of the following is one way to "lame"):

hamstring (cripple by cutting the hamstring)

Sentence frames:

Somebody ----s somebody
Something ----s somebody

 Context examples 

The crowd had thickened in front, so that the lame man and the girl had come to a stand.

(The White Company, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

Because he limped—he was lame.

(The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

The leader had suddenly gone dead lame.

(Rodney Stone, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

I was stiff and lame, and cried out with pain when the bed-clothes touched my poor finger-ends.

(The Sea-Wolf, by Jack London)

Jo happened to suit Aunt March, who was lame and needed an active person to wait upon her.

(Little Women, by Louisa May Alcott)

Before I explain, recall, if you please, my notice, clearly given, that if I helped you, it must be as the blind man would help the lame.

(Jane Eyre, by Charlotte Brontë)

Captain Harville was a tall, dark man, with a sensible, benevolent countenance; a little lame; and from strong features and want of health, looking much older than Captain Wentworth.

(Persuasion, by Jane Austen)

The impression was, _A king lifting up a lame beggar from the earth_.

(Gulliver's Travels into several remote nations of the world, by Jonathan Swift)

Well, sir, not of much account; but three of them have gone lame, sir.

(The Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

His bedstead, covered with a tumbled and ragged piece of patchwork, was in the den he had come from, where another little window showed a prospect of more stinging-nettles, and a lame donkey.

(David Copperfield, by Charles Dickens)