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7 cze 2024 · Key Takeaways. The phrase "on the lam" means to avoid capture by fleeing from law enforcement. It originated in the late 19th century and was first used by pickpockets as a signal to escape from potential danger.
According to the Online Etymological Dictionary, lam means: "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.
29 kwi 2013 · “ ‘Take it on the lam’ is English in origin. Years ago, in England, ‘lamming’ was a game played with dice and a large tube of ointment. Each player in turn threw dice and then skipped around the room until he hemorrhaged.
21 mar 2020 · This phrase meaning to be on the run from something is U.S. criminal slang from the turn of the 20th century. From Appleton’s Popular Science Monthly of April 1897: To do a lam, meaning to run. And from 1904 we have this from Life in Sing Sing by “Number 1500”:
noun. /læm/ Word Origin. Idioms. on the lam. (North American English, informal) escaping from somebody, especially from the police. He was recaptured after four months on the lam. Definitions on the go. Look up any word in the dictionary offline, anytime, anywhere with the Oxford Advanced Learner’s Dictionary app.
1 mar 1998 · On the lam means ''running away'' or ''being a fugitive from the law''; bureaucrats would say ''in escape status.'' The origin of the expression is in heated dispute among slang...
