lame duck

noun
1.
an elected official or group of officials, as a legislator, continuing in office during the period between an election defeat and a successor's assumption of office.
2.
a president who is completing a term of office and chooses not to run or is ineligible to run for reelection.
3.
a person finishing a term of employment after a replacement has been chosen.
4.
anything soon to be supplanted by another that is more efficient, economical, etc.
5.
a person or thing that is disabled, helpless, ineffective, or inefficient.
6.
a person who has lost a great deal of money in speculations on the stock market.
Origin
1755-65
Related forms
lame-duck, adjective
Examples from the web for lame duck
  • But working as a lame duck among colleagues who have deemed you unworthy can't help but be excruciating.
  • lame duck president, deeply riven board, ridiculous faculty senate.
  • Boring, lame duck, sleeping giant-he has heard them all.
  • This, combined with his slumping popularity, has led some to describe him as a lame duck.
  • Perhaps the way will be cleared for legislative proposals during the lame duck session after the election.
  • We can and should roll back all of the tax increases enacted during the lame duck session.
  • So we've got a lot on our plate during this lame duck session.
British Dictionary definitions for lame duck

lame duck

noun
1.
a person or thing that is disabled or ineffectual
2.
(stock exchange) a speculator who cannot discharge his liabilities
3.
a company with a large workforce and high prestige that is unable to meet foreign competition without government support
4.
(US)
  1. an elected official or body of officials remaining in office in the interval between the election and inauguration of a successor
  2. (as modifier): a lame-duck president
5.
(modifier) (US) designating a term of office after which the officeholder will not run for re-election
Word Origin and History for lame duck
n.

1761, "any disabled person or thing;" especially Stock Exchange slang for "defaulter."

A lame duck is a man who cannot pay his differences, and is said to waddle off. [Thomas Love Peacock, "Gryll Grange," 1861]
Sometimes also in naval use for "an old, slow ship." Modern sense of "public official serving out term after an election" is recorded by 1878 in American English, from an anecdote published in that year of President Lincoln, who is alleged to have said, "[A] senator or representative out of business is a sort of lame duck. He has to be provided for."

lame duck in Culture

lame duck definition


A public official or administration serving out a term in office after having been defeated for reelection or when not seeking reelection.

Slang definitions & phrases for lame duck

lame duck

modifier

: lame-duck president

noun phrase
  1. A public official who has lost an election or one who is not permitted by law to seek reelection for an additional term but is serving out a term (1863+)
  2. A speculator who has taken options on stocks he or she cannot pay for (1751+ Stock market)

[political sense attributed to Vice President Andrew Johnson, referring to a Colonel Forney]


Idioms and Phrases with lame duck

lame duck

An elected officeholder whose term of office has not yet expired but who has failed to be re-elected and therefore cannot garner much political support for initiatives. For example, You can't expect a lame duck President to get much accomplished; he's only got a month left in office. This expression originated in the 1700s and then meant a stockbroker who did not meet his debts. It was transferred to officeholders in the 1860s. The Lame Duck Amendment, 20th to the U.S. Constitution, calls for Congress and each new President to take office in January instead of March (as before), thereby eliminating the lame-duck session of Congress.