| 释义 |
lame duck
lame duck 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. lame duck n 1. a person or thing that is disabled or ineffectual 2. (Stock Exchange) stock exchange a speculator who cannot discharge his or her liabilities 3. (Commerce) a company with a large workforce and high prestige that is unable to meet foreign competition without government support 4. (Government, Politics & Diplomacy) a. an elected official or body of officials remaining in office in the interval between the election and inauguration of a successorb. (as modifier): a lame-duck president. 5. (Government, Politics & Diplomacy) (modifier) US designating a term of office after which the officeholder will not run for re-election lame′ duck′
n. 1. an elected official or group continuing in office in 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. anyone or anything soon to be supplanted by another. 4. a person or thing that is disabled, ineffective, or inefficient. [1755–65] lame′-duck′, adj. lame duckAn elected representative or administration that has failed to win re-election but continues in power until the inauguration of the winner of the last election.Thesaurus| Noun | 1. |  lame duck - an elected official still in office but not slated to continueelected official - official who won the office in a free election |
Translationslame duck
lame duck1. Someone or something that needs help. The company started as a lame duck that was saved by an innovative entrepreneur who decided to take some risks and go in a new direction.2. An elected official serving their last term in office, usually so-called after a successor has been elected. The opposing party was angry at the president's intention to name a Supreme Court replacement while he was a lame duck.See also: duck, lamelame duck 1. Fig. someone who is in the last period of a term in an elective office and cannot run for reelection. You can't expect much from a lame duck. As a lame duck, there's not a lot I can do. 2. Fig. having to do with someone in the last period of a term in an elective office. (Used as an adjective; sometimes lame-duck.) You don't expect much from a lame-duck president. Lame-duck Congresses tend to do things they wouldn't dare do otherwise.See also: duck, lamelame duckAn 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. See also: duck, lamea lame duck COMMON1. If a politician or a government is a lame duck, they have little real power, for example because their period of office is coming to an end. The government is headed by a president who looks like a lame duck. The last thing people needed was to feel that the government was a lame duck. Note: You can also use lame-duck before a noun. He's already seen widely as a lame-duck Prime Minister. He would have found himself leading a lame-duck administration to near-certain defeat.2. If someone or something is a lame duck, they are in a very weak position and in need of support. The company has completed its transformation from the lame duck of the motor industry into a quality car maker. Moira considers all single people lame ducks. Note: You can also use lame-duck before a noun. It is not right to use taxpayers' money to support lame-duck industries. Note: This expression is usually used to criticize someone or something. Note: The image here is of a duck that has been shot and wounded, and so cannot move properly and is likely to die. See also: duck, lamelame duck a person or thing that is powerless or in need of help. informal In the mid 18th century, lame duck was used in a stock-market context, with reference to a person or company that could not fulfil their financial obligations. Later, from the mid 19th century, it was used specifically with reference to US politicians in the final period of office, after the election of their successor. 1998 Spectator At some point in his second and final term, every president becomes a lame duck: as the man himself matters less, so does the office. See also: duck, lamea ˌlame ˈduck (informal) a person or an organization that is not very successful and needs help: My uncle is a bit of a lame duck. The family has to help him all the time. ♢ The shipping industry had become a lame duck.See also: duck, lamelame duck1. n. someone who is in the last period of a term in an elective office. You can’t expect much from a lame duck. 2. mod. having to do with someone in the last period of a term in an elective office. You don’t expect much from a lame duck president. See also: duck, lamelame duck, aA person finishing a term of office, employment, or other engagement, and soon to be supplanted by another. This term had quite another meaning in eighteenth-century Britain. Then it denoted a stock-exchange jobber (broker) who could not pay his debts and therefore was struck from the members’ list, forced to “waddle away” from the Exchange. In the nineteenth century, however, the term began to be used for any ineffectual person, on both sides of the Atlantic. Some decades thereafter it began to be used in its present meaning in the United States, that is, for government officials who have failed to be reelected but must serve out their term of office, even though their endeavors are hampered because they are about to be replaced. See also: lamelame duck
lame duck1. Business a company with a large workforce and high prestige that is unable to meet foreign competition without government support 2. USa. an elected official or body of officials remaining in office in the interval between the election and inauguration of a successor b. (as modifier): a lame-duck president 3. US designating a term of office after which the officeholder will not run for re-election Lame Duck
Lame DuckAn elected official, who is to be followed by another, during the period of time between the election and the date that the successor will fill the post. The term lame duck generally describes one who holds power when that power is certain to end in the near future. In the United States, when an elected official loses an election, that official is called a lame duck for the remainder of his or her stay in office. The term lame duck can apply to any person with decision-making powers, but it is usually refers to presidents, governors, and state and federal legislators. When a legislature assembles between election day and the day that new legislators assume office, the meeting is called a lame-duck session. On the federal level, under the Twentieth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, the Senate and the House of Representatives must convene on January 3 each year. Incoming legislators assume office that day, and outgoing legislators leave office that day. Thus, from the day after election day in November until late December, retiring and defeated legislators have time to pass more legislation. Legislatures do not have to conduct lame-duck sessions. In fact, if many of their members will be new in the next legislative session, the idea of their defeated lawmakers voting on legislation may be criticized by the public—especially by those who voted for the incoming legislators. The issue of whether to conduct a session between mid-November and early January is usually decided by a vote of the legislators in office during the last session before the election. The legislature may elect to reconvene on a certain date, to adjourn at the call of the chair of either house or both houses, or to adjourn sine die (without planning a day to reconvene). Also, a lame-duck president or governor has the power to call a lame-duck session. Lame-duck sessions may be called to pass emergency legislation for the immediate benefit or protection of the public during November or December. They also may be conducted for political purposes. For example, if a certain party stands to lose the presidency or governorship and seats in the new legislature, that party may seek to push through a few last pieces of legislation. Thus, lame-duck sessions can spawn hastily written legislation, and the finished product may be of dubious quality. The Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act of 1980 (CERCLA), also known as Superfund (42 U.S.C.A. § 9601 et seq.), is a piece of lame-duck legislation. This federal statute, which regulates the cleanup of toxic waste sites, was hurriedly passed by a lame-duck Congress and signed by lame-duck president jimmy carter in December 1980. Congress crafted the statute with virtually no debate and under rules that allowed for no amendments. CERCLA is regarded as problem ridden by persons on all sides of the environmental debate. Further readings Kuhnle, Tom. 1996. "The Rebirth of Common Law Action for Addressing Hazardous Waste Contamination." Stanford Environmental Law Journal 15. Thurmond, William M. 1996. "CERCLA's 'All Appropriate Inquiry': When Is Enough, Enough?" Florida Bar Journal 70 (March). Cross-references Environmental Law. Lame Duck
Lame DuckAn ineffective trader who is in or near bankruptcy due to a series of bad trades, often over a long period of time. A lame duck has suffered heavy losses, not from a bear market or something similar, but simply due to his/her ineptitude. This is a slightly pejorative term that is most common in Europe.lame duck
Words related to lame ducknoun an elected official still in office but not slated to continueRelated Words |