lam n.1
1. (US, also lamas) an escape, e.g. from prison.
![[US]](/static/img/flags/us.png "United States") | Bowery Life [ebook] He hopped ter his pins like er cricket, an’ made er lam fer de frunt door. | |
| Vocab. Criminal Sl. | |
| Let Tomorrow Come 209: Some vic made a lam. I hope he makes it stick. | |
 | ‘Reverse English’ Detective Nov. 🌐 [of a getaway] He had just made it in a hot lamas, before the hue-and-cry. | |
| ‘Miss Lonelyhearts’ in Coll. Works (1975) 225: When this hard-boiled stuff first came in, she dropped the trick English accent and went in for scram and lam. | |
| ‘Feature Snatch!’ Dan Turner - Hollywood Detective Feb. 🌐 The wren’s lam bore out certain suspicions that were taking shape in my think-tank. | |
| et al. DAUL 121/1: Lam, n. 1. The state of being a fugitive from justice. | |
| World’s Toughest Prison 807: lam – A hasty getaway or escape. | |
| Gonif 93: I was being hounded by the Feds for the lams. |
2. an escape from work or duty.
| Rivethead (1992) 190: This was the Rivet Line where hittin’ the lam still meant sluggin’ a young sheep. |
In phrases
(UK black) to leave (town).
| ‘Observation Post’ in N.Y. Age 27 Sept. 9/6: Has Roy Harris collared a lam or just been dug by Uncle Sam? |
to run away, to escape eg. from prison.
| Appleton’s Popular Science Monthly Apr. 832: Such expressions are [...] thimble, a watch;to do a lam, meaning to run . | |
| S.F. Call 2 Apr. 25/5: The guy tumbled and we done a lamb [sic]. | |
| Little Falls Herald (MN) 31 Mar. 3/3: How to Operate the Shell Game with Profit [...] Make a hot lamas before the rube gets the green in his mit, and do a ringer before making another pitch. | |
| Mr. Jackson 85: You never know when a bull’s goin’ to flag you doin’ a lam’ like I was. |
1. quickly, at a run, at top speed.
| Enemy to Society 315: Take a taxicab [...] only get there in time. [...] Go on the lamm, boys! | |
| Fighting Blood 121: Rag’s face is the color of cream as he starts on the lam for the great outdoors. | |
| ‘Jargon of the Und.’ in DN V 457: On the lam, At top speed. | |
| ‘Hot-Prowl Rape-O’ in Destination: Morgue! (2004) 297: We knew Megan More lit out on the lam. | |
| Running the Books 36: Jacob was a con man who spent most of his life on the lam. |
2. (US Und.) on the run from prison or the police, thus fig. on the loose.
| Broadway Melody 4: That rattler’s due now, so me on the lam for the station. | |
| Sister of the Road (1975) 7: When I knew that man was stealing, or a woman hustling, or some poor girl going nutty, or that a guy was on the lam [...] it all seemed natural to me. | |
| We Are the Public Enemies 48: Many a farmer [...] was glad to offer asylum to bandits on the lam. | |
| Swell-Looking Babe 79: He’s on the lam from a pen back east. | |
| Mad mag. Mar.–Apr. 30: One day, when Goldie Moll wuz on de lam from her latest bank heist. | |
| Pinktoes (1989) 189: Hubby on the Lam? Telephone Sam. | |
| Garden of Sand (1981) 60: They all lived like people on the lam. | |
![[SA]](/static/img/flags/sa.png "South Africa") | Street-Women in Gray Theatre One 20: Who the hell wants romance, when he’s on the lam, with the johns after him for a killing? | |
| Fort Apache, The Bronx 274: Two barrels would blow both these scumbags right through the wall. But then she would have to go out on the lam; leave her nice little pad. | |
| 8 Ball Chicks (1998) 24: Angel was on the lam for stabbing another girl. | |
| I, Fatty 160: A batch of actors [...] on the lam from Los Angeles. | |
| Disassembled Man [ebook] The sun ducked below the desert floor, a felon on the lam . | |
| Happy Mutant Baby Pills 59: Maybe it was FMD — Film Noir Disease — but I pegged her for a woman on the lam. |
3. (US black) elsewhere.
| N.Y. Amsterdam News 29 Apr. 20: [T]he revenue of the turfmen [is] falling off since the ‘johns’ are on the lam. |
(US Und.) to run away, to escape (esp. from prison).
| Life In Sing Sing 263: He plugged the main guy for keeps and I took it on a lam for mine. | |
| Wise-crack Dict. 15/1: Take it on the Lamm [sic] – Run away. | |
| Rocky Mountain News (Denver) 13 Nov. in AS III:3 254: If he has to ‘do it all’ his only chance is to take it on the ‘lam’ from the ‘stir.’. | |
| ‘Blood Pressure’ in Runyon on Broadway (1954) 75: He grabs me by the collar, so it is no use of me thinking of taking it on the lam away from there. | |
| ‘Red Wind’ in Red Wind (1946) 52: Then he had to take it on the lam. | |
| ‘Bird Cagey’ in Popular Detective Jan. 🌐 Maybe Mr. Drupe took it on the lam somewhere to get his nerves ironed out. | |
| Big Con 107: His roper took it on the lam. | |
| Runyon à la Carte 140: I am very glad to see you again, Homer, although it seems to me I tell you to take it on the lameroo out of here just yesterday. | |
| ‘Make with the Shape’ in Coll. Stories (1990) 113: Instead of taking it on the lam, Lulu lit in on Jessie May. | |
| Dead Ringer 126: He took it on the lam. | |
| Mad mag. June–July 29: Trying to take it on the lam, eh? | |
| Candy (1970) 153: That’s right, kiddo, he took it out on the lam, split the scene, cut on out. | |
| ‘Exactly What Happened’ in Fireworks (1988) 13: Oh, maybe we could take it on the lam for a little while. | |
| Executioner (1973) 131: I think he took it on the lam. | |
| A Second Browser’s Dict. 169: Take it on the lam. 1. To get out in a hurry. 2. To escape. | |
| (con. 1930s–60s) Guilty of Everything (1998) 292: I [...] found that Joel had helped himself to a good part of the cash and had taken it on the lam. | |
| (con. 1940s–60s) Straight from the Fridge Dad. |