Lam:
If you're on the lam, then you're reckoned to be 'on the run' (from the
law). The Word Detective gives the following:
"'On the lam' has been popular American slang for 'on the run' since at
least the latter part of the 19th century. The root of 'lam' is the Old
Norse word 'lamja,' meaning 'to make lame', and the original meaning of
'lam,' when it first appeared in English back in the 16th century, was
'to beat soundly'. The English word 'lame' is from the same source, as
is 'lambaste,' a double whammy in that the 'baste' part is from a
Scandinavian root meaning 'thrash or flog'."
The change in the meaning of 'lam' from 'beat' to 'run away' probably
echoed another slang term for running away - 'beat it.' To 'beat it'
(or 'lam it') could well come from the sound of rapid foot beats on the
road when running.
Large: At large is an expression used to indicate that a prisoner has
escaped and is free. "Large" seems a funny word to be used in this
sense but it goes back to a French phrase "prendre la large" meaning to
stand out to sea so as to be free to move. "Large" also has another
nautical meaning as in By and Large.
Lark: To lark about is to play around; to frolic; to go on a spree.
Again the main word seems inappropriate until one realises that it
comes from the Middle English laik, to play and the Old English lac, a
contest. To Skylark is a modern extension.
Larry: To be as happy as Larry is to be absolutely content and well
pleased with life. Who, or what, was Larry? One suggestion is that the
expression relates to Larry Foley, an Australian boxer who lived from
1847-1917. It's said that he was never defeated, retired as a champion,
was relatively well off and lived to 70. I guess he was pleased with
his life's outcome! Certainly almost all of the early examples are
found in New Zealand or Australian texts with the earliest about the
mid 1870s.
A second possibility relates to the Cornish, and later Australian/New
Zealand slang term. 'larrikin', meaning a rough type or hooligan prone
to larking about, first used in this sense in the late 1860s. Whatever,
this antipodean saying has spread widely around the English speaking
world.
Law: Possession is nine points of the Law is a phrase used by someone
claiming an overwhelming advantage over an opponent; it is also used
when someone claims that something in their possession actually belongs
to them whether this is the case or not. The original nine points of
the Law were: a lot of money; a lot of patience; a good cause; a good
lawyer; a good counsel; good witnesses; a good jury; a good judge and,
finally, good luck.
Lead: To swing the lead is to be lazy. This is another nautical saying.
Normally the Leadsman, who was there to assess the depth of water under
a ship, sat "in the chains" i.e. near the mast shrouds and swung a
lead-weighted depth gauge so that it entered the sea near the bows. If
he was lazy he just "swung the lead" without going to the trouble of
sounding the depth, calling out an imaginary reading to the Officer of
the Watch.
Leg: If someone says "don't pull my leg" they want you to stop playing
a joke on them; to stop telling fibs and to tell the truth. There is a
sense of good humour about the whole concept, but it may not have
always been so. The origin is found in a Scottish rhyme in which "draw"
is used in the sense of "pull" rather than the word itself. It goes:
"He preached, and at last drew the auld body's leg,
Sae the Kirk got the gatherins o' our Aunty Meg."
The suggestion in the rhyme is that Aunty Meg was hung for a crime and,
at the end, the preacher pulled on her legs to ensure that she was
dead. The rather more sombre overtones of this possibility than are
apparent in the British use of the phrase are mirrored in the American
usage, where there is much more a feeling of trickery and deception
when the saying is used.
Show
a leg is a saying ordering people to get up out of bed. It is mainly
used in institutions such as camps, dormitories or other place where
men sleep in communal rooms. The origin is naval and goes back to the
days when civilian women were tolerated on board ship. When the bosun's
mate called out the hands in the mornings he did so with the shout Show
a leg! Modern English has almost forgotten that this was only part of
the shout, the rest going ..."or a purser's stocking". The meaning here
is that if a female leg appeared, preferably clad in a stocking, then
she could stay in her bunk or hammock until the men had departed.
Level: To do your level best is to do as best as you can in the
circumstances. The level here is an underground seam or level found in
a mine. The particular mines of origin in this saying are the gold ones
of 19th century California.
On
the level is used to indicate honesty and is probably based on the
level used by Freemasons in the 14th century. Freemasons were
originally all skilled workers in stone. From their use of the square,
which drew a straight line and made you Go straight, and their use of
the level, to make sure a surface was true, came the extension of the
sayings into wider use.
Level
pegging comes from cribbage. See also Lurch and Peg..
Lick: To lick into shape is to bring someone or something up to
scratch; to make them fit for a particular task. Olden belief had it
that bear cubs were born as shapeless masses of fur and flesh and had
to be licked into shape by the mother.
To
go at a great lick comes from mid-19C+ US slang, where 'lick' took on
the meaning of 'to move fast'. Why is not clear. Incidentally, there
are numerous other meanings to the word, such as 'to beat' someone in a
competition.
Lily: He's lily livered is a saying used to describe a coward or
weakling. The ancient Greeks used to sacrifice an animal before battle.
The liver was regarded as a prime omen; if red then all was fine but if
pale then this signified bad tidings. By extension the liver of a
coward was thought to be pale and lily livered was one of the ways of
describing this. Others were "white livered" and "pigeon livered".
Limelight: In the limelight means to be prominent or important. The
saying reflects the way the old Victorian theatres were lit before the
days of electricity. Lime was used as a source of illumination since
the combustion of hydrogen and oxygen on the surface of lime produces a
very bright light. Beams of this light were used to shine on the stage,
but not all the stage could be lit up at once; hence some actors were
in the limelight and others not.
