lam1
/lam
/verb (lams, lamming, lammed) [with object] informal
Hit hard; strike: I’ll lam you in the mouth in a minute [no object]: they surged along, lamming into anyone in their path...
- Will Afghanistan - or what remains of it after decades of mayhem, following the Soviet attack that lammed into that country from 1979-have been pounded?
- A Thompson lubed wad is seated over the powder, and then a Speer.457’ round ball is lammed home.
Origin
Late 16th century: perhaps of Scandinavian origin and related to Norwegian and Danish lamme 'paralyse'.
lambaste from mid 17th century:
The early sense recorded for lambaste was ‘beat, thrash’: it comes from late 16th-century lam meaning ‘beat soundly’ and mid 16th-century baste meaning ‘thrash’, both probably of Scandinavian origin. The sense ‘criticize harshly’ dates from the late 19th century. The US expression on the lam ‘in flight’ developed from lam in the late 19th century.
Rhymes
lam2
/lam/North American informal
noun (in phrase on the lam)
In flight, especially from the police: he went on the lam and is living under a false name...
- She, however, has lent it to a thief on the lam from the police.
- When the police come looking for him, he must go on the lam and try to piece together the last two years of his life using only the strange trinkets as clues.
- Taylor and Thomas also tell the story of a convict on the lam in Maine who hid from police in snowy woods.
verb (lams, lamming, lammed) [no object]
Escape; flee.Jet Li plays the part of Han Sing, doing durance vile in the Hong Kong lockup, taking the fall for his dad, Ch'u Sing (Henry O) who lammed out of Honkers for San Francisco, the Chinese fuzz hot on his larcenous heels....
- I lammed, ran faster than I'd run since being made cabin boy for Kapitan Sergei, with the store owner close behind.
- To avoid being killed by Archie's men, they lam it with Shorty who takes them to where he's been living in Boston.
Origin
Late 19th century: from lam1.