| 1. | Trademark. a canned food product consisting esp. of pork formed into a solid block. |
| 2. | (lowercase ) a disruptive, esp. commercial message posted on a computer network or sent as e-mail. |
| 3. | (lowercase ) to send spam to. |
| 4. | (lowercase ) to send spam. |
| Dictionary.com Unabridged (v 1.1) Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2006. |
spam
To learn more about spam visit Britannica.com
| © 2008 Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc. |
| spam
Audio Help (spām) Pronunciation Key
n. Unsolicited e-mail, often of a commercial nature, sent indiscriminately to multiple mailing lists, individuals, or newsgroups; junk e-mail. tr.v. spammed, spam·ming, spams
[From Spam (probably inspired by a comedy routine on the British television series Monty Python's Flying Circus, in which the word is repeated incessantly).] spam'mer n. |
| The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition Copyright © 2006 by Houghton Mifflin Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved. |
| Spam
Audio Help (spām) Pronunciation Key
A trademark used for a canned meat product consisting primarily of chopped pork pressed into a loaf. |
| The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition Copyright © 2006 by Houghton Mifflin Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved. |
spam
| Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2001 Douglas Harper |
| spam | |
noun | |
| 1. | a canned meat made largely from pork |
| 2. | unwanted e-mail (usually of a commercial nature sent out in bulk) |
verb | |
| 1. | send unwanted or junk e-mail |
| WordNet® 3.0, © 2006 by Princeton University. |
spam [spam] verb — past tense, past participle spammed
Example: I've been spammed.
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| Kernerman English Multilingual Dictionary, © 2000-2006 K Dictionaries Ltd. |
spam
Unsolicited, undesired e-mail. Also used as a verb. Spam is the e-mail version of junk mail.
Note: The name comes from a Monty Python comedy skit about a restaurant that served only Spam.
[Chapter:] Technology
| The American Heritage® New Dictionary of Cultural Literacy, Third Edition Copyright © 2005 by Houghton Mifflin Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved. |
spam
1.
It is possible to spam a newsgroup with one well- (or ill-) planned message, e.g. asking "What do you think of abortion?" on soc.women. This can be done by cross-posting, e.g. any message which is crossposted to alt.rush-limbaugh and alt.politics.homosexuality will almost inevitably spam both groups. (Compare troll and flame bait).
Posting a message to a significant proportion of all newsgroups is a sure way to spam Usenet and become an object of almost universal hatred. Canter and Siegel spammed the net with their Green card post.
If you see an article which you think is a deliberate spam, DO NOT post a follow-up - doing so will only contribute to the general annoyance. Send a polite message to the poster by private e-mail and CC it to "postmaster" at the same address. Bear in mind that the posting's origin might have been forged or the apparent sender's account might have been used by someone else without his permission.
The word was coined as the winning entry in a 1937 competition to choose a name for Hormel Foods Corporation's "spiced meat" (now officially known as "SPAM luncheon meat"). Correspondant Bob White claims the modern use of the term predates Monty Python by at least ten years. He cites an editor for the Dallas Times Herald describing Public Relations as "throwing a can of spam into an electric fan just to see if any of it would stick to the unwary passersby."
Usenet newsgroup: news.admin.net-abuse.
See also netiquette.
2. (A narrowing of sense 1, above) To indiscriminately send large amounts of unsolicited e-mail meant to promote a product or service. Spam in this sense is sort of like the electronic equivalent of junk mail sent to "Occupant".
In the 1990s, with the rise in commercial awareness of the net, there are actually scumbags who offer spamming as a "service" to companies wishing to advertise on the net. They do this by mailing to collections of e-mail addresses, Usenet news, or mailing lists. Such practises have caused outrage and aggressive reaction by many net users against the individuals concerned.
3. (Apparently a generalisation of sense 2, above) To abuse any network service or tool by for promotional purposes.
"AltaVista is an index, not a promotional tool. Attempts to fill it with promotional material lower the value of the index for everyone. [...] We will disallow URL submissions from those who spam the index. In extreme cases, we will exclude all their pages from the index." -- Altavista.
4.
See also buffer overflow, overrun screw, smash the stack.
5.
(2003-09-21)
| The Free On-line Dictionary of Computing, © 1993-2007 Denis Howe |
SPAM
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