I. ˈam noun
( -s )
Etymology: Middle English (attested only in place names), from Old English hamm; akin to Middle Low German ham enclosed land, Old English hemm border — more at hem
now dialect England : a piece of grassland
II. ˈham, -aa(ə)- noun
( -s )
Etymology: Middle English hamme, from Old English hamm; akin to Old High German hamma popliteal space, thigh, haunch, Old Norse höm haunch, Greek knēmē shinbone, Old Irish cnāim bone, leg
1.
a. : the part of the leg behind the knee : the hollow of the knee : popliteal space
such a case as yours constrains a man to bow in the hams — Shakespeare
b. : a buttock with its associated thigh or with the hinder part of a thigh — usually used in plural
squatted submissively on his hams — Joseph Conrad
c. : a hock or the hinder part of a hock
2.
a. : the thigh of an animal prepared for food
deer or elk hams — R.R.Camp
especially : the thigh of a hog either fresh or cured by salting and smoking
hams … from … peanut-fed hogs — U.S. Code
— see pork illustration
b. : something that resembles such a ham in shape ; specifically : a cushion used especially by tailors for pressing curved areas of garments
3.
[short for hamfatter ]
a. : an unskillful but flamboyant performer : exhibitionist , strutter
a wrestling match between a couple of hams
an oratorical ham
the basset is a natural ham — Charlotte Paul
especially : an inept or ineffective actor especially in an overtheatrical style
a typical down-and-out vaudeville ham — Bennett Cerf
b. : an inexperienced or incompetent telegraph operator
c. : a government-licensed operator of an amateur radio station
once on the air, he got in touch with hams on the mainland and they in turn warned ships away from the dangerous coast — R.B.Gehman
4.
a. : melodrama or mawkish sentimentality : overdone theatricality
a film scenario full of tears and ham — V.S.Pritchett
b. : a tendency to histrionics : theatrical streak
dignity may suffer as the ham emerges in response to the camera's grinding — Walter Goodman
III. adjective
1. : hammy
ham actor
less ham than its rivals — William Empson
in all his life he had never been in any situation so corny, so ham — Charles Jackson
2. : of or relating to amateur radio
ham operator
ham radio band
ham shack
IV. verb
( hammed ; hammed ; hamming ; hams )
transitive verb
1. : to execute with exaggerated speech or gestures : overact
spoofed the story and hammed the action — Paul Jaretzki
— often used with up
ham it up in beer-hall fashion — Metronome
2. : to infuse with melodrama or mawkish sentimentality
the narration was overly hammed in the writing — Billboard
intransitive verb
: to overplay a part
hams and mugs and … misses most of his best effects by underestimating his own simple power — Virgil Thomson