

Thomas Rowlandson, Augustus Charles Pugin, John Bluck, Joseph Constantine Stadler, Thomas Sutherland, J. Ten years later, playwright David Garrick mentioned the phrase in his prologue for Samuel Foote’s play The Maid of Bath: “Change-Alley bankrupts waddle out lame ducks!”Īn illustration of the London Stock Exchange in 1810. Walpole was alluding to the London Stock Exchange, where lame duck described an ill-fated investor who defaulted on their loans. “Do you know what a Bull, and a Bear, and a Lame Duck are?” he asked. In fact, the phrase didn’t even originate in politics.Īccording to the Oxford English Dictionary, the earliest known reference to the phrase is from a letter written by British nobleman Horace Walpole in 1761. But while the term lame duck is now often used to refer to any outgoing politician in general-regardless of whether or not they’re figuratively limping through the end of their term-it wasn’t always that way.

LAME DUCK MEANING FREE
Because they no longer have to worry about keeping their constituents happy enough to get reelected, they’re free to make decisions that might not be popular with the people they govern. It’s not exactly true that lame-duck politicians can’t get anything done during that period. In other words: Their capabilities are limited and their days are numbered. With diminished influence and little time to enact new policies, they’re often referred to as lame ducks. presidents and members of Congress elected in November don’t actually take office until the following January, this creates an awkward gap for their predecessors. These example sentences are selected automatically from various online news sources to reflect current usage of the word 'lame duck.' Views expressed in the examples do not represent the opinion of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Rick Helfenbein, Forbes, 19 July 2022 See More swamp later this week - perhaps to return in the lame duck session or sometime next year. 2020 Unless there is a Congressional miracle, critical trade items like GSP and MTB renewals, China exclusions, and de minimis - will slide into the D.C. 2021 How is the coronavirus turning the lame duck legislative session into complete disarray, and what does that mean for all the things lawmakers wanted to do? 2022 The lame duck legislative session continues Wednesday and is expect to last through either Dec.

2022 But the lack of action to this point means his only remaining hope might be in a lame duck session. 2022 Roth oversaw efforts to restrict Evers’ powers during the lame duck session between the election of Evers and his inauguration.īen Baker, Journal Sentinel, 22 Aug. Gene Myers, Detroit Free Press, Furthermore, is Lovie Smith their long-term answer at head coach or another lame duck? 2022 In Philly: Like the Wings with Bowman, the Flyers were led by a lame duck whose coaching contract expired after the playoffs. Recent Examples on the Web Three days later, the coup had been routed, but Gorbachev returned to Moscow a lame duck: he had been supplanted by Boris Yeltsin, the leader of an independent Russia.
