lam1
[lam]Slang.
- to beat; thrash.
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- to beat; strike; thrash (usually followed by out or into).
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Origin of lam1
lam2
[lam]Slang.
- a hasty escape; flight.
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- to run away quickly; escape; flee: I'm going to lam out of here as soon as I've finished.
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- on the lam, escaping, fleeing, or hiding, especially from the police: He's been on the lam ever since he escaped from jail.
- take it on the lam, to flee or escape in great haste: The swindler took it on the lam and was never seen again.
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Origin of lam2
lām
[lahm]
- the 23rd letter of the Arabic alphabet.
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Origin of lām
From Arabic; see origin at lambda
Lam
[lahm, lam]
- Wi·fre·do [wi-frey-doh] /wɪˈfreɪ doʊ/or Wil·fre·do [wil-frey-doh] /wɪlˈfreɪ doʊ/, 1902–82, Cuban painter in Europe.
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lam.
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Lam.
- Lamentations.
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Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018
Related Words
emergedepartskipduckeludeslippassvanishcircumventdisappearblowavoiddodgerunabsconddecampboltshunfleedesertExamples from the Web for lam
Contemporary Examples
The first pioneer to reach the riparian tributary where Kansas City now shimmers was, in fact, on the lam himself.
And while Alliegro was on the lam in Central America, Rivera reportedly visited her several times.
Tyrion, now on the lam for patricide by crossbow, is destined for an unknown foreign port like a diminutive Edward Snowden.
“[It] was an unexpected but totally interesting project,” Lam told WWD.
Gisele Bündchen Tops Highest-Paid Supermodels List; Kate Middleton Wears $72 Dress in Official Family PortraitThe Fashion Beast Team
August 20, 2013
But for the globally notorious on the lam, it is shaping up to be an attractive getaway.
Historical Examples
Mrs. McKee drew a long breath and entered the lam stew in a book.
KMary Roberts Rinehart
I've got Jeems Henery to stop gamblin',” he whispered, “an' I didn't have to lam' him.
In Happy ValleyJohn Fox
A trader, coming into this camp, represented that lam Khn had let Sl.
The Bbur-nma in EnglishBabur, Emperor of Hindustan
A genus formed for the reception of Isocardia semi-sulcata, Lam.
A Conchological ManualGeorge Brettingham Sowerby
Those which depart furthest from this type are the Grypha, Lam.
A Conchological ManualGeorge Brettingham Sowerby
lam1
- (tr) to thrash or beat
- (intr; usually foll by into or out) to make a sweeping stroke or blow
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Word Origin
C16: from Scandinavian; related to Old Norse lemja
lam2
- a sudden flight or escape, esp to avoid arrest
- on the lam
- making an escape
- in hiding
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- (intr) to escape or flee
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Word Origin
C19: perhaps from lam 1 (hence, to be off)
Lam.
- Lamentations
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Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition
© William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins
Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012
Word Origin and History for lam
n.
"flight," as in on the lam, 1897, from a U.S. slang verb meaning "to run off" (1886), of uncertain origin, perhaps somehow from the first element of lambaste, which was used in British student slang for "beat" since 1590s; if so, it would give the word the same etymological sense as the slang expression beat it.
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Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper
Idioms and Phrases with lam
lam
see on the lam.
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The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary
Copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.