different between laze vs lame

English

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /le?z/
• Rhymes: -e?z
• Homophones: lase, lays

Etymology 1

Back-formation from lazy.

Verb

laze (third-person singular simple present lazes, present participle lazing, simple past and past participle lazed)

1. To be lazy, waste time.
   • 1599, Robert Greene, The Comicall Historie of Alphonsus, King of Aragon, London, Act III,^[1]

     Behold by millions how thy men do fall

     Before Alphonsus like to sillie sheepe.

     And canst thou stand still lazing in this sort?

   • 1635, George Wither, A Collection of Emblemes, Ancient and Moderne, London: John Grismond, Illustration 36, Book 1,^[2]

     And, lastly, such are they; that, having got

     Wealth, Knowledge, and those other Gifts, which may

     Advance the Publike-Good, yet, use them not;

     But Feede, and Sleepe, and laze their time away.

   • 1892, Israel Zangwill, Children of the Ghetto, being Pictures of a Peculiar People, Philadelphia: The Jewish Publication Society, Volume 1, Chapter 13, p. 191,^[3]

     But for this anachronism of keeping Saturday holy when you had Sunday also to laze on, Daniel felt a hundred higher careers would have been open to him.

   • 1982, Don DeLillo, The Names, New York: Vintage, 1989, Chapter 7, p. 160,^[4]

     “I could easily fall into this,” I said. “Laze my way through life. Coffee here, wine there. You can channel significant things into the commonplace. Or you can avoid them completely.”

2. To pass time relaxing; to relax, lounge.

   The cat spent the afternoon lazing in the sun.

   • 1939, Graham Greene, The Lawless Roads, Penguin, 1982, Chapter 4, p. 93,^[5]

     A football game went on beside the line; half the teams just lazed on the grass […]

Synonyms

• idle
• loaf
• take it easy

Derived terms

• laze about
• laze around
• lazen
• lazy

Translations

Noun

laze (countable and uncountable, plural lazes)

1. (countable) An instance of lazing.

   I had a laze on the beach after lunch.

2. (uncountable) Laziness.

   The laze is real.

Etymology 2

Blend of lava +? haze

Noun

laze (uncountable)

2. Acidic steam created when super-hot lava contacts salt water.

See also

• vog

Anagrams

• Elza, zale, zeal

Kapin

Noun

laze

1. nit

Further reading

• Malcolm Ross, Proto Oceanic and the Austronesian Languages of Western Melanesia, Pacific Linguistics, series C-98 (1988)

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.