lame duck
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Tweet n. 1. a. An elected officeholder or group continuing in office during the period between failure to win an election and the inauguration of a successor. b. An officeholder who has chosen not to run for reelection or is ineligible for reelection. 2. An ineffective person; a weakling. [Originally 18th-century British stock exchange slang, defaulter, one who has defaulted on debts (perhaps because such defaulters were likened to injured ducks waddling away from Change Alley, the narrow London side street where share trading was carried out in coffeehouses; compare similar zoomorphic 18th-century stock market terms, such as bear and bull).] lame-duck adj. |
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