Meaning of ham in English

Table of contents
  1. Pronunciation
  2. Verb
    1. Definitions
  3. Noun
    1. Etymology
    2. Definitions

  1. Pronunciation

    /hæm/

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  1. Verb

    ham

    Definitions

    1. exaggerate one's acting

    Antonyms

    Derived terms

  2. Noun

    ham

    Etymology

    Old English ham, hom (originally denoting the back of the knee), from a Germanic base meaning ‘be crooked’. In the late 15th century the term came to denote the back of the thigh, hence the thigh or hock of an animal

    Definitions

    1. meat cut from the thigh of a hog (usually smoked)
  3. 2. (Old Testament) son of Noah
  4. 3. a licensed amateur radio operator
  5. 4. an unskilled actor who overacts

    Derived terms

Famous quotes

  • « I am a real ham. I love an audience. I work better with an audience. I am dead, in fact, without one. »
    Lucille Ball
  • « My dad was a ham, too. He could sell those women anything. Of all his sons, I was the only one he could trust to sell as well as he could. I was proud of that. »
    Paul Lynde
  • « Although my dad Harry is the manager of West Ham, we get on very well. »
    Jamie Redknapp
  • « The days when the words 'Hollywood actor' framed Ronald Reagan like bunny fingers as an ID tag and an implied insult seem far-off and quaint: nearly everybody in politics - candidate, consultant, pundit, and Tea Party crowd extra alike - is an actor now, a shameless ham in a hoked-up reality series that never stops. »
    James Wolcott
  • « Spending $1 for a brand new house would feel very, very good. Spending $1,000 for a ham sandwich would feel very, very bad. Spending $19,000 for a small family car would feel, well, more or less right. But as with physical pain, fiscal pain can depend on the individual, and everyone has a different threshold. »
    Jeffrey Kluger

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