Library / English Dictionary

HAM

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

Irregular inflected forms: hammed    , hamming   

 I. (noun) 

Sense 1

Meaning:

Meat cut from the thigh of a hog (usually smoked)

Synonyms:

gammon; ham; jambon

Classified under:

Nouns denoting foods and drinks

Hypernyms ("ham" is a kind of...):

cut of pork (cut of meat from a hog or pig)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "ham"):

Virginia ham (a lean hickory-smoked ham; has dark red meat)

prosciutto (Italian salt-cured ham usually sliced paper thin)

Sense 2

Meaning:

An unskilled actor who overacts

Synonyms:

ham; ham actor

Classified under:

Nouns denoting people

Hypernyms ("ham" is a kind of...):

actor; histrion; player; role player; thespian (a theatrical performer)

Derivation:

ham (exaggerate one's acting)

hammy (affectedly dramatic; overacted)

Sense 3

Meaning:

A licensed amateur radio operator

Classified under:

Nouns denoting people

Hypernyms ("ham" is a kind of...):

radio operator (someone who operates a radio transmitter)

Sense 4

Meaning:

(Old Testament) son of Noah

Classified under:

Nouns denoting people

Instance hypernyms:

adult male; man (an adult person who is male (as opposed to a woman))

Domain category:

Old Testament (the collection of books comprising the sacred scripture of the Hebrews and recording their history as the chosen people; the first half of the Christian Bible)

 II. (verb) 

Sense 1

Meaning:

Exaggerate one's acting

Synonyms:

ham; ham it up; overact; overplay

Classified under:

Verbs of sewing, baking, painting, performing

Hypernyms (to "ham" is one way to...):

act; play; playact; roleplay (perform on a stage or theater)

Domain category:

dramatic art; dramatics; dramaturgy; theater; theatre (the art of writing and producing plays)

Sentence frames:

Somebody ----s
Somebody ----s something

Derivation:

ham (an unskilled actor who overacts)

hamming (poor acting by a ham actor)

Credits

 Context examples: 

He was a blessing to all the juvenile part of the neighbourhood, for in summer he was for ever forming parties to eat cold ham and chicken out of doors, and in winter his private balls were numerous enough for any young lady who was not suffering under the unsatiable appetite of fifteen.

(Sense and Sensibility, by Jane Austen)

You can crawl through the drain into the kitchen and then into the pantry, and there you will find cakes, ham, beef, cold chicken, roast pig, apple-dumplings, and everything that your heart can wish.

(Fairy Tales, by The Brothers Grimm)

Mr. Peggotty smiled at us from behind his pipe, and Ham grinned all the evening and did nothing else.

(David Copperfield, by Charles Dickens)

He saw the blaze of the fire, Kloo-kooch cooking, and Grey Beaver squatting on his hams and mumbling a chunk of raw tallow.

(White Fang, by Jack London)

You must know, with your wide experience of turf matters, Colonel Ross, that it is possible to make a slight nick upon the tendons of a horse’s ham, and to do it subcutaneously, so as to leave absolutely no trace.

(The Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

In the very centre of all these, upon the largest hook of all, there hung a fat little red-faced man with enormous whiskers, kicking madly in the air and clawing at rafters, hams, and all else that was within hand-grasp.

(The White Company, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

Me, and uncle, and Ham, and Mrs. Gummidge.

(David Copperfield, by Charles Dickens)

It was the figure of a man, clad in a suit of black, who squatted down upon his hams with his forehead sunk upon the edge of the box and his two arms thrown out on each side of it.

(The Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

I was very much surprised that Mr. Peggotty was not Ham's father, and began to wonder whether I was mistaken about his relationship to anybody else there.

(David Copperfield, by Charles Dickens)

“Ham and eggs,” I answered.

(The Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)