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ham

 - 12 dictionary results

ham

1[ham]
–noun
1. a cut of meat from the heavy-muscled part of a hog's rear quarter, between hip and hock, usually cured.
2. that part of a hog's hind leg.
3. the part of the leg back of the knee.
4. Often, hams. the back of the thigh, or the thigh and the buttock together.

Origin:
bef. 1000; ME hamme, OE hamm bend of the knee; c. MD, MLG hamme, OHG hamma; akin to ON hǫm buttock; perh. akin to Gk kn shin, OIr cnáim bone

ham

2[ham] noun, verb, hammed, ham⋅ming.
–noun
1. an actor or performer who overacts.
2. an operator of an amateur radio station.
–verb (used without object), verb (used with object)
3. to act with exaggerated expression of emotion; overact.
4. ham it up, to overact; ham.

Origin:
1880–85; short for hamfatter, after The Hamfat Man, a black minstrel song celebrating an awkward man

Ham

[ham]
–noun
the second son of Noah, Gen. 10:1.
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2009.
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ham   (hām)   
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.

  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 overact.
v.   tr.
To exaggerate or overdo (a dramatic role, for example).

[Middle English hamme, from Old English hamm. N., senses 6 and 7, possibly from ham-fatter, a poor or amateurish actor.]
Ham   (hām)   
In the Bible, a son of Noah and the brother of Japheth and Shem.
The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
Copyright © 2009 by Houghton Mifflin Company.
Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
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Cultural Dictionary

Ham

One of the three sons of Noah. According to the biblical account, Noah and his family were the only human survivors of the great Flood and were therefore the progenitors of all the peoples on Earth.

Note: Egypt was traditionally called “the Land of Ham,” and Ham was considered to be the ancestor of the Egyptians and of all African peoples south of Egypt.
Note: The “curse of Ham” refers to the biblical story in which Ham, seeing his father drunk and naked, refused to turn away as his two brothers did. When Noah awoke, he cursed Ham and his son Canaan, supposedly causing a darker pigmentation in their descendants. This so-called curse has often been wrongly used to justify racism.
The American Heritage® New Dictionary of Cultural Literacy, Third Edition
Copyright © 2005 by Houghton Mifflin Company.
Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
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Slang Dictionary
ham

  1. n.
    an actor; a bad actor. (See also hams.) : What a ham! A real showoff.
Dictionary of American Slang and Colloquial Expressions by Richard A. Spears.Fourth Edition.
Copyright 2007. Published by McGraw Hill.
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Word Origin & History

ham  (1)
"meat of a hog's hind leg used for food," 1637, from O.E. hamm "hollow or bend of the knee," from P.Gmc. *kham- (cf. O.N. höm, M.Du. hamme), from PIE *konemo- "shin bone," originally "be crooked" (cf. Gk. kneme "part between the knee and ankle," O.Ir. cnaim "bone"). Ham-fisted (1928) was originally in reference to pilots who were heavy on the controls.

ham  (2)
"overacting performer," 1882 Amer.Eng., apparently a shortening of hamfatter (1880) "actor of low grade," said to be from an old minstrel show song, "The Ham-fat Man" (1863). The song itself, a black-face number, has nothing to do with acting, so the connection must be with the quality of acting in minstrel shows, where the song was popular. The notion of "amateurish" led to the sense of "amateur radio operator" (1919). The verb in the performance sense is first recorded 1933.
Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2001 Douglas Harper
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Medical Dictionary

Main Entry: ham
Pronunciation: 'ham
Function: noun
1 : the part of the leg behind the knee : the hollow of the knee : POPLITEAL SPACE
2 : a buttock with its associated thigh or with the posterior part of a thigh—usually used in plural
3 : a hock or the hinder part of a hock
Merriam-Webster's Medical Dictionary, © 2002 Merriam-Webster, Inc.
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Bible Dictionary

Ham

warm, hot, and hence the south; also an Egyptian word meaning "black", the youngest son of Noah (Gen. 5:32; comp. 9:22,24). The curse pronounced by Noah against Ham, properly against Canaan his fourth son, was accomplished when the Jews subsequently exterminated the Canaanites. One of the most important facts recorded in Gen. 10 is the foundation of the earliest monarchy in Babylonia by Nimrod the grandson of Ham (6, 8, 10). The primitive Babylonian empire was thus Hamitic, and of a cognate race with the primitive inhabitants of Arabia and of Ethiopia. (See ACCAD.) The race of Ham were the most energetic of all the descendants of Noah in the early times of the post-diluvian world.

Easton's 1897 Bible Dictionary
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Abbreviations & Acronyms
HAM
Hamburg (Fuhlsbuttel) Airport
The American Heritage® Abbreviations Dictionary, Third Edition
Copyright © 2005 by Houghton Mifflin Company.
Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
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