Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • intransitive verb To escape, as from prison.
  • noun Flight, especially from the law.
  • intransitive verb To give a thorough beating to; thrash.
  • intransitive verb To strike; wallop.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • To thrash; beat.
  • noun An obsolete spelling of lamb.
  • noun In weaving, a leaf or heddle.
  • noun An abbreviation of Lamentations.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • transitive verb Obs. or Low To beat soundly; to thrash.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • noun The twenty-third letter of the Arabic alphabet, ﻝ. It is preceded by ك and followed by م.
  • noun Used in the expression on the lam to mean that a person is fleeing law enforcement, possibly in hiding.
  • verb transitive To beat or thrash

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • verb give a thrashing to; beat hard
  • noun a rapid escape (as by criminals)
  • verb flee; take to one's heels; cut and run

Etymologies

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition

[Origin unknown.]

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition

[Probably of Scandinavian origin; akin to Old Norse lemja, to cripple by beating, flog.]

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

Arabic This definition is lacking an etymology or has an incomplete etymology. You can help Wiktionary by giving it a proper etymology.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

From Old Norse lemja.

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Examples

  • "She was living comfortably - making friends and going out dancing," said Shadwick, who added that the full story of what Parrett did on the lam is not yet known.

    Convicted corporate executive arrested in Mexico after 2 years on the lam Jerry Markon 2010

  • Turkish football coach and former player, Ertuğrul Sağlam is currently manager for Bursaspor club.

    Bursaspor 2008/09 Kappa kits Azmie aka switch image 2009

  • "She was living comfortably - making friends and going out dancing," said Shadwick, who added that the full story of what Parrett did on the lam is not yet known.

    Convicted corporate executive arrested in Mexico after 2 years on the lam Jerry Markon 2010

  • Turkish football coach and former player, Ertuğrul Sağlam is currently manager for Bursaspor club.

    Archive 2009-03-01 Azmie aka switch image 2009

  • The word lamé comes from the Old French for a thin plate of overlapping metal, as used in armor.

    Shiny Dressing, Day and Night Josh Patner 2009

  • Yet, the neocons long assumed that a majority in Iraq would vote for a man on the lam from a sentence of 22 years in neighboring Jordan for fraud in the collapse of the Chalabi family's Petra Bank.

    Archive 2004-12-05 Steve Sailer 2004

  • Yet, the neocons long assumed that a majority in Iraq would vote for a man on the lam from a sentence of 22 years in neighboring Jordan for fraud in the collapse of the Chalabi family's Petra Bank.

    Ahmad Chalabi Steve Sailer 2004

  • Most times, the journeys were undertaken in search of better opportunities; twice he was on the lam from the golfing authorities.

    Singh's world tour ends at Augusta 2000

  • On the frontpage of today’s Wall Street Journal there’s a story about two Black Panter Party members who have been on the lam from the law for 40 years.

    The Volokh Conspiracy » U.S. Denying Entry Visas to People Who Work on Israel’s Dimona Nuclear Reactor? 2010

  • T. W.That rifle sounds about right, same weight as factory wood even though lam. is usually heavier but you didn't say caliber but from everything I've read (don't have one) they're near syn. quality.

    A Little Touch Of Home 2008

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