Nearby Words
APC Power Solutions www.apc.com/ Protect Against Downtime & Data Loss w/ APC Solutions. Learn More.
Recipes www.vons.com/Recipes Quick, Easy, and Delicious Recipes by Vons. Perfect for any Meal.
Computer UPS www.tripplite.com/PowerProtection 300VA to 80kVA UPS Systems Home, Office, Data Center & more.
Ads
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.
00:10
00:09
00:08
00:07
00:06
00:05
00:04
00:03
00:02
00:01
Ham it up
is always a great word to know.
So is gobo. Does it mean:
| a calculus or concretion found in the stomach or intestines of certain animals, esp. ruminants, formerly reputed to be an effective remedy for poison. |
| a screen or mat covered with a dark material for shielding a camera lens from excess light or glare. |
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
1880–85; short for hamfatter, after The Hamfat Man, a black minstrel song celebrating an awkward man
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2012.
Cite This Source
Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2012.
Cite This Source
|
Link To ham it up
Etymonline
Word Origin & History
ham
"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
EXPANDshows, 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.
COLLAPSE
Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper
Cite This Source
Cite This Source
American Heritage
Cultural Dictionary
Ham definition
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.
Cite This Source
Copyright © 2005 by Houghton Mifflin Company.
Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
Cite This Source
Slang Dictionary
ham definition
|
Dictionary of American Slang and Colloquial Expressions by Richard A. Spears.Fourth Edition.
Copyright 2007. Published by McGraw Hill.
Cite This Source
Copyright 2007. Published by McGraw Hill.
Cite This Source
Word Dynamo By Dictionary.com
Matching Quote
Dictionary.com, LLC. Copyright © 2012. All rights reserved.
