Forms: 1 lama, (lame), loma, 3 lomme, 3–4 lome, 4 lam, 2– lame. [OE. lama, lǫma (the wk. declension is, from some unexplained cause, used in indefinite as well as definite context, the form in -a being, moreover, commonly used for all genders), corresponding to OFris. lam, lom, OS. lamo (Du. lam), OHG. lam (MHG. lam, mod.G. lahm), ON. lame (wk.):—OTeut. *lamo-; an ablaut-variant is *lômjo- in OHG. luomi, MHG. lüeme dull, slack, gentle, early mod.G. lumm, whence lümmel blockhead. From the same root is OSl. lomitĭ to break.]
1. Of a person or animal: a. Crippled or impaired in any way; weak, infirm; paralysed; unable to move. Const. on, of (cf. 1 c). Obs. exc. arch.
c. 725. Corpus Gloss., 815. Conclamatus, commotus loma.
c. 900. trans. Bæda’s Hist., V. v. (1890), 396. He wæs loma & ealra his lioma þeʓnunga benumen.
c. 1000. Ags. Gosp., Matt. ix. 2. Ða brohton hiʓ hym ænne laman [L. paralyticum] on bedde licʓende.
c. 1000. Ælfric, Gloss., in Wr.-Wülcker, 112/32. Pleuriticus, on sidan lama, uel sidadl. Ibid., 162/1. Debilis, uel eneruatus, lame.
a. 1250. Owl & Night., 363. Ȝet þu me seist on oþer schome þat ich am on mine eȝen lome.
a. 1300. Cursor M., 5153 (Gött.). I may noght rise, i am sua lame.
1530. Palsgr., 317/1. Lame of all ones lymmes, perclus.
1581. Mulcaster, Positions, xxii. (1887), 94. They did thinke the childe lame of the one side.
1604. E. Grimstone, Hist. Siege Ostend, 63. A Germaine … who was lame of halfe his body, and simple.
1878. B. Taylor, Deukalion, I. iv. 37. One gets old and lame, And then the Gods themselves forget their words.
b. Crippled through injury to, or defect in, a limb; spec. disabled in the foot or leg, so as to walk haltingly or be unable to walk.
Proverb. To help a lame dog over a stile: see DOG sb. 15 f.
c. 1000. Ælfric, Saints’ Lives (1885), I. 220. Þa læʓ þær sum creopare lama fram cild-hade.
c. 1205. Lay., 19479. Uder þe lome [c. 1275 lame] mon.
a. 1300. Cursor M., 8136. An heremite þar þai fand at ham, In þat montan, was halt and lam.
1388. Wyclif, 2 Sam. v. 8. A blynde man and lame schulen not entre in to the temple.
a. 1529. Skelton, E. Rummyng, 512. Up she stert, halfe lame, And skantly could go For payne and for wo.
1611. Bible, 2 Sam. xix. 26. Thy seruant sayd, I will saddle me an asse that I may ride thereon, because thy seruant is lame.
1762–71. H. Walpole, Vertue’s Anecd. Paint. (1786), III. 76. He hurt his hip at the fire of London and went lame for the rest of his life.
1871. Miss Yonge, Cameos, II. xxx. 314. He kicked her downstairs, so that she broke her leg, and went lame ever after.
1875. Jowett, Plato (ed. 2), V. 364. In the use of the hands we are in a manner lame.
1880. Times, 18 Sept., 9/5. Lame men might be illustrious warriors like Agesilaus, bold horsemen like Scott, extraordinary swimmers like Byron.
c. Const. of, in, † on, † with (the crippled part).
a. 1300. Cursor M., 12260. Þat þe poueral get sum bote, And ganging þat ar lame o fote.
c. 1460. Play Sacram., 768. Jonathas on thyn hand thow art but lame.
1581. Savile, Tacitus’ Hist., IV. lxxxi. (1591), 232. Another lame of a hande [L. manum æger].
c. 1645. T. Tully, Siege of Carlisle (1840), 36. Hinks,… being lame in that hand he was shot in.
1646. Sir J. Temple, Irish Rebell. (1746), 206. Her hand grew black and blew, rankled, and she was extreme lame with it.
1676. Hobbes, Iliad, II. 193. Lame of one Leg he was.
1685. Lond. Gaz., No. 2072/4. A Man,… ruddy Countenance,… and lame of one of his little fingers.
1766. Entick, London, IV. 285. If they were lame in their arms.
1870. L’Estrange, Miss Mitford, I. v. 132. Poor Marmion is lame in one of his hind legs.
d. absol.
a. 1000. Elene, 1214 (Gr.). Oft him feorran to Laman, limseoce, lefe cwomon.
a. 1300. Cursor M., 19096. Þe oncall of his hali nam, has lent us hele nu to þis lame.
1377. Langl., P. Pl., B. XIX. 120. He made lame to lepe.
1484. Caxton, Fables of Alfonce, vii. (1889), 272. Of euery lame scabbed and of alle suche that had ony counterfaytour on theyr bodyes he tooke a peny.
1500–20. Dunbar, Poems, lxxxii. 53. Through streittis nane may mak progres, For cry of cruikit, blind, and lame.
1535. Coverdale, Job xxix. 15. I was an eye unto the blynde, and a fote to the lame.
a. 1619. Daniel, Civ. Wares, III. x. (1885), II. 104 (L.), Who reproves the lame, must go vpright.
1715. Gay, Trivia, II. 51. But above all, the groping blind direct, And from the pressing throng, the lame protect.
e. said of the limb; also of footsteps, etc.
a. 1300. Cursor M., 17950. His lymmes … ȝit are lame.
1592. Davies, Immort. Soul, XXX. xiii. (1714), 93. Most Legs can nimbly run, tho’ some be lame.
a. 1656. Bp. Hall, Soliloq., 26. What have I got by it but a lame shoulder and a galled back?
1675. W. Harbord, Lett. to Earl Essex, in Essex Papers (Camden), I. 318. Had not my lame foote compelled me to make use of my Coache.
1710. Lond. Gaz., No. 4784/4. The Thumb on his Right Hand is Lame.
1775. Johnson, Lett. to Mrs. Thrale, 17 June. Her present qualifications for the niceties of needlework being dim eyes and lame fingers.
1840. R. H. Dana, Bef. Mast, xxix. 99. Tossing … from eight to ten thousand hides, until my wrists became so lame that I gave in.
1859. Tennyson, Enid, 628. Myself would work eye dim, and finger lame.
1885. R. Bridges, Eros & Psyche, April, 24. With footsteps slow and lame They gather’d up their lagging company.
† f. transf. of trees. Obs.
1600. Surflet, Country Farm, III. xlvii. 522. Trees become lame when they be planted in too drie a place. Ibid. (margin), Lame trees.
2. fig. Maimed, halting; imperfect or defective, unsatisfactory as wanting a part or parts. Said esp. of an argument, excuse, account, narrative, or the like. † Phr. lame to the ground (cf. Antrim & Down Gloss., s.v. Lame ‘A stab of a bayonet which has lamed me to the ground’).
c. 1374. Chaucer, Troylus, II. Prol. 17. Disblameth me yf ony word be lame. For as myn auctor seyde so sey I.
1390. Gower, Conf., II. 218. The gold hath made his wittes lame.
1531. Elyot, Gov., I. xxv. That the knowlege and contemplation of Natures operations were lame and … imperfecte, if there followed none actuall experience.
1581. J. Bell, Haddon’s Answ. Osor., 164 b. Let us yet helpe his lame Logicke as well as we may.
1604. Shaks., Oth., II. i. 162. Oh most lame and impotent conclusion.
1634. Canne, Necess. Separation (1849), 287. I will not contend much with him about the proposition, which is lame to the ground.
1668. Hale, Pref. to Rolle’s Abridgm., 9. Tables, or other Repertories … are oftentimes short, and give a lame account of the Subject sought for.
1670. Temple, Lett. to Sir J. Temple, Wks. 1731, II. 245. I found the Business of admitting the Emperor into the Guarantee, went downright lame.
a. 1677. Barrow, Serm., Wks. 1686, III. 208. Nothing of worth or weight can be atchieved … with a faint heart, with a lame endeavour.
1699. Bentley, Phal., 259. Our Argument from the Date of Phrynichus’s Phœnisse will be very lame and precarious.
1703. Moxon, Mech. Exerc., 253. Alterations, or Tearing and pulling the Building to pieces after it is begun … makes the Building lame and Deficient.
1726. Swift, Gulliver, III. iii. 197. The theory of comets, which at present is very lame and defective.
1800. Mrs. Hervey, Mourtray Fam., II. 104. Her account was so lame and imperfect, that Mrs. Mourtray lost all patience.
1818. Hazlitt, Eng. Poets, iv. (1870), 100. His grammatical construction is often lame and imperfect.
1867. Freeman, Norm. Conq. (1876), I. iv. 218. This certainly seems a very lame story.
b. Const. of, in (the defective part): cf. 1 c. Also with to and inf.
c. 1366. Chaucer, A. B. C., 76. And who so goth to you þe rihte wey Him thar not drede in soule to be lame.
a. 1420. Hoccleve, De Reg. Princ., 2797. Swich vnbuxumnesse Suffred, vs make wol of seuerte lame.
1578. Banister, Hist. Man, VIII. 99. Idiotes and foolish bodyes, who hauyng defect in this [reason], are lame in all the rest.
c. 1586. C’tess Pembroke, Ps. CIII. i. What gratious he … hath done for thee, Be quick to mind, to utter be not lame.
1604. Shaks., Oth., I. iii. 63. Being not deficient, blind, or lame of sense.
a. 1656. Bp. Hall, Soliloq., 35. Alas, we cannot be but lame in all our obediences.
1819. Shelley, Peter Bell 3rd, VI. xxi. 4. His thoughts grew weak, drowsy, and lame Of their intelligence.
1860. Motley, Netherl. (1868), I. iii. 77. This course seemed to be lame in many parts.
c. Said of metrical ‘feet’ or the verses composed of them: Halting, metrically defective.
1600. Shaks., A. Y. L., III. ii. 178. Cel. That’s no matter: the feet might beare ye verses. Ros. I, but the feet were lame and could not beare themselues without the verse. Ibid. (1608), Per., IV. Prol. 48. The lame feete of my rime.
1693. Dryden, Persius, Sat., i. (1697), 406. The Prose is Fustian, and the Numbers lame.
1751. Chatham, Lett. Nephew, i. 1. Your translation … is very close to the sense of the original … the numbers not lame, or rough.
3. Phr. Lame duck: see DUCK sb.1 9. † To come by the lame post: (of news, etc.) to be behind time.
1658. Osborn, Jas. I., iii. Wks. (1673), 469. Till by a lamer Post he was advertised of his being joyfully Proclaimed in London by the Lord Mayor and Aldermen.
1701. Mott, in Sir J. Floyer, Hot & Cold Bath., II. 240. Yours of the 24th of May I received, but it had the misfortune to come by the Lame Post, or else you had sooner received an Answer.
4. Comb., as lame-born, -footed, -horsed, -legged, † -limb adjs.
1823. Bentham, Not Paul, 306. The *lame-born cripple.
1614. Raleigh, Hist. World, III. (1634), 67. Seldome the villaine though much haste he make *Lame-footed Vengeance failes to overtake.
1881. Blackmore, Christowell, xl. Labouring along with the *lame-horsed guns.
1610. Holland, Camden’s Brit., I. 515. Being skornfully rejected by Judith the mother for that he was *lame-legged.
1583. T. Watson, Centurie of Loue, xcviii. Poems (Arb.), 134. Loue is … A *Lamelimme Lust.
