on the lam
20
9.9
- idiom
- Slang
:
prófugo
- The two female fugitives are still on the lam.
- years on the lam
Examples
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But after a few years on the lam, time has officially caught up with this career criminal.
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After the heist, the suspects went on the lam and hid in a remote cabin.
-
So now we're on the lam.
-
- I am on the lam.
-
We're on the lam now, you know.
-
Well, they went on the lam for a bit, and then Charlie made a couple of phone calls.
-
How long do you suppose it will be before we are on the lam?
Fiction book (1990) -
Two lovers on the lam in Mexico.
-
The FBI is hunting down three others who seem to be on the lam.
Blog text (25) -
When you're on the lam, you don't throw your weight around.
Synonyms
63
4.5
Free after escaping confinement and possibly dangerous, hard to find
45
5.3
A secret place where someone stays to avoid being found by police or enemies
Antonyms
How Hidden
45
5.3
- Slang
20
9.9
Surface Forms
Morphology
Assuming the learner knows the verb 'lam' (to run off to evade arrest), the phrase is compositionally predictable: 'on' marks a state/location and 'the lam' functions like other nominalized run-states (cf. 'on the run'), so the overall meaning 'in hiding/on the run' follows directly. Although 'lam' is informal/slang, the syntactic pattern is transparent and readily interpretable by learners who know the constituents.
Etymology
On the lam comes from old criminals' slang. Lam was a short word meaning 'to run away', and people who were running away from the police were said to be on the lam, so today it means 'in hiding or on the run'.