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lams

 - 6 dictionary results
Lams
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lam

1  [lam] verb, lammed, lam⋅ming. Slang.
–verb (used with object)
1. to beat; thrash.
–verb (used without object)
2. to beat; strike; thrash (usually fol. by out or into).
Use lams in a Sentence
Origin:
1590–1600; < ON lamdi, past tense of lemja to beat; akin to lame 1
Lams
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lam

2  [lam] noun, verb, lammed, lam⋅ming. Slang.
–noun
1. a hasty escape; flight.
–verb (used without object)
2. to run away quickly; escape; flee: I'm going to lam out of here as soon as I've finished.
—Idioms
3. on the lam, escaping, fleeing, or hiding, esp. from the police: He's been on the lam ever since he escaped from jail.
4. take it on the lam, to flee or escape in great haste: The swindler took it on the lam and was never seen again.
Origin:
1885–90; special use of lam 1 . Compare beat it! be off!

lām

  [lahm]
–noun
the 23rd letter of the Arabic alphabet.
Origin:
< Ar; see lambda
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2010.
Cite This Source Link To lams
lam 1   (lām)   
v.   lammed, lam·ming, lams Slang

v.   tr.
To give a thorough beating to; thrash.
v.   intr.
To strike; wallop.

[Probably of Scandinavian origin; akin to Old Norse lemja, to cripple by beating, flog.]
lam 2   (lām)   
intr.v.   lammed, lam·ming, lams
To escape, as from prison.
n.  Flight, especially from the law: escaped convicts on the lam.

[Origin unknown.]
The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
Copyright © 2009 by Houghton Mifflin Company.
Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
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Word Origin & History

lam 
"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 1596; if so, it would give the word the same etymological sense as beat it.
Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2001 Douglas Harper
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