LAM (lammed, lamming)

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

IPA (US):

Irregular inflected forms: lammed    , lamming   

 Dictionary entry overview: What does lam mean? 

• LAM (noun)
  The noun LAM has 1 sense:

1. a rapid escape (as by criminals)

  Familiarity information: LAM used as a noun is very rare.

• LAM (verb)
  The verb LAM has 2 senses:

1. flee; take to one's heels; cut and run

2. give a thrashing to; beat hard

  Familiarity information: LAM used as a verb is rare.

 Dictionary entry details 

• LAM (noun)

Sense 1

Meaning:

A rapid escape (as by criminals)

Classified under:

Nouns denoting acts or actions

Synonyms:

getaway; lam

Context example:

after the expose he had to take it on the lam

Hypernyms ("lam" is a kind of...):

escape; flight (the act of escaping physically)

Derivation:

lam (flee; take to one's heels; cut and run)

• LAM (verb)

Present simple: I / you / we / they lam    ... he / she / it lams   
Past simple: lammed   
Past participle: lammed   
-ing form: lamming   

Sense 1

Meaning:

Flee; take to one's heels; cut and run

Classified under:

Verbs of walking, flying, swimming

Synonyms:

break away; bunk; escape; fly the coop; head for the hills; hightail it; lam; run; run away; scarper; scat; take to the woods; turn tail

Context example:

The burglars escaped before the police showed up

Hypernyms (to "lam" is one way to...):

go away; go forth; leave (go away from a place)

Troponyms (each of the following is one way to "lam"):

flee; fly; take flight (run away quickly)

skedaddle (run away, as if in a panic)

Sentence frames:

Something ----s
Somebody ----s
Somebody ----s PP

Derivation:

lam (a rapid escape (as by criminals))

Sense 2

Meaning:

Give a thrashing to; beat hard

Classified under:

Verbs of touching, hitting, tying, digging

Synonyms:

flail; lam; thrash; thresh

Hypernyms (to "lam" is one way to...):

beat; beat up; work over (give a beating to; subject to a beating, either as a punishment or as an act of aggression)

Verb group:

bat; clobber; cream; drub; lick; thrash (beat thoroughly and conclusively in a competition or fight)

Sentence frame:

Somebody ----s somebody

Sentence example:

They want to lam the prisoners