different between lame vs scratch

English

Pronunciation

• (UK, US) IPA^(key): /le?m/
• Rhymes: -e?m
• Hyphenation: lame

Etymology 1

From Middle English lame, from Old English lama (“lame”), from Proto-Germanic *lamaz (“lame”), from Proto-Indo-European *lem- (“to crush; fragile”). Akin to German lahm and Dutch lam, Old Norse lami, Swedish, Danish and Norwegian lam, akin to Old Church Slavonic ?????? (lomiti, “to break”).

Adjective

lame (comparative lamer, superlative lamest)

1. Unable to walk properly because of a problem with one's feet or legs.
2. Moving with pain or difficulty on account of injury, defect or temporary obstruction of a function.

3. (by extension) Hobbling; limping; inefficient; imperfect.
   • a. 1677, Isaac Barrow, Of Industry in General (sermon)

     a lame endeavour

   • c. 1603, William Shakespeare, Othello, Act II scene i^[1]:

     O, most lame and impotent conclusion! […]
4. (slang) Unconvincing or unbelievable.

5. (slang) Failing to be cool, funny, interesting or relevant.

Usage notes

Referring to a person without a disability as “lame” is offensive to many as it suggests a derogatory characterization of the physical condition from which the term was derived.

Synonyms

• (unable to walk properly because of a problem with one's feet or legs): crippled
• (moving with difficulty):
• (by extension, hobbling): hobbling, limping, inefficient, imperfect
• (slang, unconvincing): weak, unbelievable
• (slang, failing to be cool, funny, interesting, or relevant): boring, pathetic, uncool, unfunny, uninteresting, irrelevant

Antonyms

• (unable to walk properly because of a problem with one's feet or legs):
• (moving with difficulty):
• (by extension, hobbling): efficient, perfect
• (slang, unconvincing): convincing, believable
• (slang, failing to be cool, funny, interesting, or relevant): cool, funny, interesting, relevant

Derived terms

Translations

Verb

lame (third-person singular simple present lames, present participle laming, simple past and past participle lamed)

1. (transitive) To cause (a person or animal) to become lame.
   • 1877, Anna Sewell, Black Beauty: And if you don't want to lame your horse you must look sharp and get them [stones stuck in hooves] out quickly.
   • 1913, D.H. Lawrence, Sons and Lovers, chapter 6

     Now her soul felt lamed in itself. It was her hope that was struck.

Translations

Noun

lame (plural lames)

1. (prison slang) A stupid or undesirable person.
   • 2011, Lil' Kim, Black Friday (song)

     You lames tryna clone my style and run wit it.

Etymology 2

From Middle French lame, from Latin lamina.

Noun

lame (plural lames)

1. A lamina; a thin layer or plate of material, as in certain kinds of armor.
   • 2013, Paul F Walker, History of Armour 1100-1700, Crowood (?ISBN):

     This rim involved a raised rolled edge on the rerebrace that was inserted into a raised lip on the lower lame of the pauldron. This lip allows the arm to rotate without the need for leather straps and can be clearly seen carved on to the effigy […]

   • 2015, Anne Curry, Malcolm Mercer, The Battle of Agincourt, Yale University Press (?ISBN), page 120:

     These pauldrons are generally asymmetrical with the left pauldron wider than the right, which is cut away for the passage of the lance. It would be attached to the shoulder by points through a restored leather tab on the top lame at the apex […]

2. (in the plural) A set of joined overlapping metal plates.

Related terms

• lamé
• lamella, lamellar

Etymology 3

Verb

lame (third-person singular simple present lames, present participle laming, simple past and past participle lamed)

1. (obsolete) To shine.

   (Can we find and add a quotation of Piers Plowman to this entry?)

References

Anagrams

• -meal, Elam, Elma, Leam, Lema, Malé, alme, amel, leam, lema, male, meal, mela, mela-

Esperanto

Adverb

lame

1. lamely

Estonian

Etymology

From lamama +? -e.

Adjective

lame (genitive lameda, partitive lamedat)

1. flat

Declension

French

Etymology

Inherited from Latin l?mina, through the accusative l?minam. Doublet of lamine, a borrowing.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /lam/
• Rhymes: -am
• Homophone: lames

Noun

lame f (plural lames)

1. lamina
2. blade
3. wave

Related terms

• lamé m
• lamer
• lamellaire
• lamelle
• laminer
• lamineur m

Descendants

• ? Italian: lama
• ? Persian: ???? (lâm, “microscope slide”)

Further reading

• “lame” in Trésor de la langue française informatisé (The Digitized Treasury of the French Language).

Anagrams

• mâle, mêla

Friulian

Etymology

Ultimately from Latin lamina. Compare Romansch loma, lama, French lame, Italian and Venetian lama.

Noun

lame f (plural lamis)

1. blade

German

Etymology

From the English adjective lame.

Adjective

lame

1. (slang) boring; unimpressive
2. (slang) unskilled; useless

Declension

This entry needs an inflection-table template.

Further reading

• “lame” in Duden online

Italian

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /?la.me/

Noun

lame f

1. plural of lama

Anagrams

• alme, male, mela

Mauritian Creole

Etymology

From French main.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): [lame]

Noun

lame

1. hand

Norwegian Nynorsk

Etymology 1

Adjective

lame

1. (non-standard since 2012) definite singular of lam
2. (non-standard since 2012) plural of lam

Etymology 2

Noun

lame m (definite singular lameen, indefinite plural lamear, definite plural lameane)

1. alternative spelling of lamé

Old French

Noun

lame f (oblique plural lames, nominative singular lame, nominative plural lames)

1. blade (of a weapon)

Romanian

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): [?lame]

Noun

lame f

1. indefinite plural of lam?
2. indefinite genitive/dative singular of lam?

Spanish

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /?lame/, [?la.me]

Verb

lame

1. Informal second-person singular (tú) affirmative imperative form of lamer.

   ¡Lame mi culo! — “Lick my asshole!”

2. Formal second-person singular (usted) present indicative form of lamer.
3. Third-person singular (él, ella, also used with usted^?) present indicative form of lamer.

   Lame. — “[He/she/it] licks.”

Swedish

Adjective

lame

1. absolute definite natural masculine form of lam.

English

Etymology

From Middle English scracchen, of uncertain origin. Probably a blend of Middle English scratten (“to scratch”) and cracchen (“to scratch”). More at scrat and cratch.

Pronunciation

• enPR: skr?ch, IPA^(key): /sk?æt?/
• Rhymes: -æt?

Verb

scratch (third-person singular simple present scratches, present participle scratching, simple past and past participle scratched)

1. To rub a surface with a sharp object, especially by a living creature to remove itching with nails, claws, etc.
   • 1733, Jonathan Swift, On Poetry, a Rhapsody

     Be mindful, when invention fails, / To scratch your head, and bite your nails.

2. To rub the skin with rough material causing a sensation of irritation; to cause itching.
   1. For a man, when kissing someone, to irritate the skin of that person with one's unshaven beard.
3. To mark a surface with a sharp object, thereby leaving a scratch (noun).

4. To cross out, strike out, strike through some text on a page.
   1. Hence, to remove, ignore or delete.

5. (music) To produce a distinctive sound on a turntable by moving a vinyl record back and forth while manipulating the crossfader (see also scratching).
6. (billiards) To commit a foul in pool, as where the cue ball is put into a pocket or jumps off the table.

7. (billiards, dated, US) To score, not by skillful play but by some fortunate chance of the game.
8. To write or draw hastily or awkwardly; scrawl.
9. (transitive, intransitive) To dig or excavate with the claws.

10. To dig or scrape (a person's skin) with claws or fingernails in self-defense or with the intention to injure.

Synonyms

• scrattle

Derived terms

Translations

Noun

scratch (countable and uncountable, plural scratches)

1. A disruption, mark or shallow cut on a surface made by scratching.
   • 1677-1684, Joseph Moxon, Mechanick Exercises

     The coarse file […] makes deep scratches in the work.

   • 1709, Matthew Prior, Henry and Emma, line 503

     These nails with scratches deform my breast.
2. An act of scratching the skin to alleviate an itch or irritation.

3. (sports)
   1. A starting line (originally and simply, a line scratched in the ground), as in boxing.

      (Can we find and add a quotation of Grose to this entry?)

   2. A technical error of touching or surpassing the starting mark prior to the official start signal in the sporting events of long jump, discus, hammer throw, shot put, and similar. Originally the starting mark was a scratch on the ground but is now a board or precisely indicated mark.
   3. (cycling) The last riders to depart in a handicap race.
   4. (billiards) An aberration.
      1. A foul in pool, as where the cue ball is put into a pocket or jumps off the table.
      2. (archaic, US, slang) A shot which scores by chance and not as intended by the player; a fluke.
   5. (horse racing) A horse withdrawn from a race prior to the start.

4. (slang) Money.
   • 2006, Clive James, North Face of Soho, Picador 2007, p. 153:

     He and Bruce cooked up a script together, and Bruce flew home to raise the scratch.

5. A feed, usually a mixture of a few common grains, given to chickens.
6. (in the plural) Minute, but tender and troublesome, excoriations, covered with scabs, upon the heels of horses which have been used where it is very wet or muddy.
   • 1887, James Law, The Farmer's Veterinary Adviser

     These are exemplified in the scurfy, scaly affections which appear in the bend of the knee (mallenders) and hock (sallenders) and on the lower parts of the limbs, by scratches, and by a scaly exfoliation […].

7. (now historical) A scratch wig.
   • 1775, Frances Burney, Journals & Letters, Penguin 2001, 26 March:

     [H]e turned to him with a dejected Face, and said ‘ – pray Sir, – could you touch up This a little?’ taking hold of his frightful scratch.

8. (music) A genre of Virgin Islander music, better known as fungi.

Synonyms

• (Virgin Islander music): fungi, quelbe

Derived terms

Translations

Adjective

scratch (not comparable)

1. For or consisting of preliminary or tentative, incomplete, etc. work.

2. Hastily assembled, arranged or constructed, from whatever materials are to hand, with little or no preparation
   • 1988, James McPherson, Battle Cry of Freedom, Oxford 2004, p. 740:

     Bluecoats began crossing the James on June 14 and next day two corps approached Petersburg, which was held by Beauregard with a scratch force of 2,500.

3. (computing, from scratchpad) Relating to a data structure or recording medium attached to a machine for testing or temporary use.
4. (sports) (of a player) Of a standard high enough to play without a handicap, i.e. to compete without the benefit of a variation in scoring based on ability.

Derived terms

• scratch sheet

References

• Douglas Harper (2001–2021) , “scratch”, in Online Etymology Dictionary
• The Jargon File - Scratch

French

Etymology

From English scratch.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /sk?at?/

Noun

scratch m (plural scratchs)

1. Velcro

Synonyms

• velcro

Italian

Etymology

From English scratch.

Noun

scratch m (invariable)

1. (music) scratch

Spanish

Etymology

From English scratch.

Noun

scratch m (plural scratchs)

1. (music) scratch