Green’s Dictionary of Slang

1. (US) bankrupted by gambling or speculation, thus phr. come up lame.

1854		G.G. Foster 15 Minutes around N.Y. 15: Wall Street and The Merchants’ Exchange [...] who is ‘short,’ who is ‘lame,’ who has been ‘cornered.’.
1961		J. Scarne Complete Guide to Gambling 683: To come up lame – to be unable to pay off lost wagers with a bookmaker.
1989		J. Morton Lowspeak 91: To come up lame – to be unable to pay gambling debts.
2004		R. Cooley When Corruption Was King 50: [T]he way I was playing with Ricky, there was no way I could lose. I was only concerned that he would come up lame paying off his losing bets.

2. (also lame-ass) naïve, clumsy, socially inept, incompetent; also as adv. (see cite 1996).

1888–94		‘Walter’ My Secret Life (1966) IV 819: We [...] arranged that her cab was to have broken down, and she had difficulty in getting another, — a lame story, but the best we could compose.
1896		A. Morrison Child of the Jago (1982) 156: The guess was a lame one, but he could think of none better.
1905		Doss Chiderdoss ‘A Dual Ownership’, Sporting Times 4 Feb. 1/4: ‘List’ners sometimes hear good of themselves, it is plain,’ / He reflected; ‘the old proverb’s lame’.
1907		W.M. Raine Bucky O’Connor (1910) 202: I’m a regular cat to kill, Mr. Leroy, and I couldn’t conscientiously join the angels with so lame a story as a game laig to explain my coming.
1915		Day Book (Chicago) 13 Mar. 11/1: Monday’s verse is pretty punk, / Tuesday’s verse is mostly bunk / Wednesday’s finds the meter lame.
1929		(con. c.1920) J.B. Booth London Town 274: ‘Looks a trifle dotty on his pins’ [...] ‘Lame in the coronet, I imagine,’ was the reply.
1934		H. Roth Call It Sleep (1977) 121: He wouldn’t even ride home with me – had to go somewhere – some lame excuse!
1950		Kerouac letter 8 Sept. in Charters I (1995) 227: I have no proficiency at all in my native language, and that is the lame truth.
c.1953		Babs Gonzales ‘Manhattan Fable’ 🎵 He told Eddie that he was a real lame Jones. But he wouldn’t take him to the slams, as long as his greens was long enough.
1965		C. Brown Manchild in the Promised Land (1969) 176: Mac was kind of lame and didn’t have a lot of heart.
1966		Frank Zappa ‘You’re Probably Wondering Why I’m Here’ 🎵 That’s just how much I marvel / At the lameness on your face.
1979		F. Norman Too Many Crooks Spoil the Caper 161: I politely turned them down with some lame excuse.
1987		T. Wolfe Bonfire of the Vanities 603: It had been enough of a struggle to get him into the lame Brooks Brothers button-down shirt.
1995		J. Stahl Permanent Midnight 59: A complete fit of lameness as sudden as a sneeze.
1996		W.D. Myers Slam! 113: He knew the game was getting away and [...] he was still going to come down lame.
1998		D. Clowes Ghost World 10: You always go out with guys like that who have some lame, fake schtick.
2004		Eble Campus Sl. Apr.
2004		C. Hiaasen Skinny Dip 111: That’s one lame-ass quack, he can’t even write scrips.
2008		T. Dorsey Atomic Lobster 42: Will you two lame fucks shut the hell up.
2010		A. Steinberg Running the Books 12: People were beginning to dislike me. My friends were starting to find me lame.
2013		J. Stahl Happy Mutant Baby Pills 7: Remorse kicks in [...] cursing you in dirty Serbian for being a lame-ass dope fiend.
2015		S. King Finders Keepers (2016) 93: The poems [...] were in Pete’s humble opinion, pretty lame.
2022		Twitter 20 Jan. 🌐 I’ve been informed that lame is an ableist slur, and I’d like to course correct [...] and replace that word in my original tweet with uncool.

3. (US black) contemptible.

1955		W. White ‘Wayne University Sl.’ AS XXX:4 303: Lame is the opposite of solid.
1959		Murtagh & Harris Who Live In Shadow (1960) 17: He is known around Junktown as a lame, lazy, crazy cat.
1967		R. Conot Rivers of Blood 68: [I]t was considered real lame if you didn't get high.
1978		J. Webb Fields of Fire (1980) 89: He was pulling some lame shit, man. Really bugging me.
1991		B. Hamper Rivethead (1992) 118: It wasn’t fair. Eleven months of lame luck.
2001		N. Macdonald Graffiti Subculture xi: Dry, lame, wak: Something which is bad or of substandard quality.

4. of drugs, weak.

1973		M. Agar Ripping and Running 138: We’re gonna get off right in his house man, so he ain’t comin out with no lame shit.
2003		N. Green Angel of Montague Street (2004) 187: This shit is pretty lame, okay, so you gotta take a nice big hit.