lam \lam\, verb:
1. to beat; thrash.
2. to beat; strike; thrash (usually followed by out or into).
Like kingpins, one steel tier lammed into another, then they all crashed to the floor with a sound as of the roof falling.
-- Richard Wright, "Black Boy," 1945
That was just before he lammed out—the time he knocked off that crumb from uptown. I remember once when Harry cut up a guy so bad, the guy couldn't walk.
-- Ed McBain, "Learning to Kill," 2006
Lam likely finds its roots in the Old Norse lemja meaning "to lame." It entered English in the late 16th century.
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