ham

Meanings

1. 1
   noun

   Meat from the leg of a pig, prepared so it can be kept and eaten.

   I made a ham sandwich for lunch.

2. 2
   noun

   An actor who performs in an exaggerated, showy way.

   He's a real ham who loves being the centre of attention.

3. 3
   verb

   To act in an exaggerated, overly dramatic way.

   The children hammed it up for the camera.

Appears in

Simplified etymology

Ham in the anatomical and meat sense is an Old English word from an ancient root meaning “to be crooked.” It first referred to the back of the knee, was extended in the 14th century to the back of the thigh or the thigh and buttocks, and by the mid-17th century denoted an animal’s thigh and hock used as food. The late-19th-century American use for an excessively theatrical actor is of uncertain origin: it may be based on amateur, while the related idea may also involve ham-fisted; hamfatter was used at the same time for an inexpert performer. Radio ham, meaning an amateur radio enthusiast, appeared in the early 20th century.

* As an English and German surname, variant of Hamm. * As a Dutch surname, from the noun ham (“bend in a river”). Compare Van Ham, Vanderham. * As a French surname, from several placenames, from the Frankish source of the Dutch word above. * As a Serbo-Croatian, Slovak and Hungarian surname (Hám), from the noun hám (“harness”), and sometimes from the German sense above. * As a Slovene surname, possibly from the "harness" or German senses above, or from ham (“grab, bite”). * As a Czech surname, shortened from Abraham. * As a Korean surname, from the name 함 (ham) (more at Ham). Compare Hahm. * A…

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External links

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• Cambridge Dictionary
• Wiktionary