In the Bible, a son of Noah and the brother of Japheth and Shem. |
The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition copyright ©2022 by HarperCollins Publishers. All rights reserved.
n. 1. The thigh of the hind leg of certain animals, especially a hog. 2. A cut of meat from the thigh of a hog, often cured by salting or smoking. 3. The back of the knee. 4. The back of the thigh. 5. hams The buttocks. 6. A performer who overacts or exaggerates. 7. A licensed amateur radio operator. v. hammed, ham·ming, hams v.intr. To exaggerate or overdo a dramatic role; overact. v.tr. Idiom: To exaggerate or overdo (a dramatic role, for example). ham it up To act or perform in an exaggerated, often intentionally broadly humorous or ridiculous style. [Middle English hamme, from Old English hamm. Noun, sense 6, from obsolete slang hamfatter, a poor or amateurish actor, from the song "The Ham-Fat Man" (1863), considered typical of minstrel shows and their low standards of performance and depicting a stereotyped vision of slave life in the American South (including a slave who likes gravy made from ham fat). Noun, sense 7, short for ham operator, originally applied in the 1800s to telegraphers with poor skills, from HAM-FISTED and HAM-HANDED.] |
The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition copyright ©2022 by HarperCollins Publishers. All rights reserved.