In the Lam Meaning?

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 etymologists. In The Random House Historical Dictionary of American Slang, J.E.

Why do they call it on the lam?

The phrase on the lam first emerged in the late 19th century as to do a lam, a slang expression defined in an 1897 article in Popular Science as simply “to run.” (Alongside it, we're told Victorian criminals were already taking kips when they fell asleep, were rubbernecking when listening in on others' conversations, ...

Is on the lam an idiom?

If someone is on the lam, they are trying to escape or hide from someone, for example the police or an enemy. He is currently on the lam, wanted for the sale and trafficking of cocaine.