lam

Definition

To beat or thrash.

Etymology

From Middle English lamen, lemen, from Old English lemian and Old Norse lemja; both from Proto-Germanic *lamjaną.

Example Sentences

• "1930, Langston Hughes and Zora Neale Hurston, Mule Bone, Act II, Scene 2, in The Collected Works of Langston Hughes, Volume 5: The Plays to 1942: Mulatto to The Sun Do Move, edited by Leslie Catherine Sanders, Columbia: University of Missouri Press, 2002, p. 102, An' fo' I knowed it, he done picked up that bone an' lammed me ovah de head wid it."
• "They lammed each other on the head with great, clumsy stone hammers; but their skulls were so hard that the hammers bounced off again […]"
• "[Gangster running away:] Batman and Robin! Let's lam!"