Sick Man Meaning

(idiomatic, usually with of) A weak member of a peer group, especially the weakest.

Example: 1854, H.B. Stowe, “America's Ambition and Europe's Dilemma”, The Living Age, volume 42‎, page 245:
  The former openly likens Cuba to Turkey, saying that the island is the "sick man" of the West;
1896, Jesse Macy, The English constitution: a commentary on its nature and growth‎, page 54:
  The House of Lords has now come to be pretty generally looked upon as the "Sick Man" of the English Constitution.
1942 May 19, “The Home Front”, Los Angeles Times:
  He told how in an economic sense we were one of the Sick Men of the World our industry dilapidated rundown and was not being renewed
1970 January 19, “A Decade of Disappointment for Asia”, New York Times:
  For Asia as a whole, that target was just about achieved, even when including India and Indonesia, often regarded as the "sick men" of the continent.