HAM (hammed, hamming)

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

IPA (US):

Irregular inflected forms: hammed    , hamming   

 Dictionary entry overview: What does Ham mean? 

• HAM (noun)
  The noun HAM has 4 senses:

1. meat cut from the thigh of a hog (usually smoked)

2. (Old Testament) son of Noah

3. a licensed amateur radio operator

4. an unskilled actor who overacts

  Familiarity information: HAM used as a noun is uncommon.

• HAM (verb)
  The verb HAM has 1 sense:

1. exaggerate one's acting

  Familiarity information: HAM used as a verb is very rare.

 Dictionary entry details 

• HAM (noun)

Sense 1

Meaning:

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

Classified under:

Nouns denoting foods and drinks

Synonyms:

gammon; ham; jambon

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:

(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)

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:

An unskilled actor who overacts

Classified under:

Nouns denoting people

Synonyms:

ham; ham actor

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)

• HAM (verb)

Present simple: I / you / we / they ham    ... he / she / it hams   
Past simple: hammed   
Past participle: hammed   
-ing form: hamming   

Sense 1

Meaning:

Exaggerate one's acting

Classified under:

Verbs of sewing, baking, painting, performing

Synonyms:

ham; ham it up; overact; overplay

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)

 Context examples 

Ham had been patching up a great pair of waterboots; and I, with little Em'ly by my side, had been reading to them.

(David Copperfield, by Charles Dickens)

He was very tall and strong, with a face as big as a ham—plain and pale, but intelligent and smiling.

(Treasure Island, by Robert Louis Stevenson)

He came upon one of the man-animals, Grey Beaver, who was squatting on his hams and doing something with sticks and dry moss spread before him on the ground.

(White Fang, by Jack London)

Sherlock Holmes swallowed a cup of coffee, and turned his attention to the ham and eggs.

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

Nigel, cried Sir Oliver, waving a great boiled ham over his head, I have come by something which I may eat with my truffles!

(The White Company, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

The team sequenced over 18,000 genes from participants of European or African ancestry who were enrolled in 7 large studies, including the Framing­ham Heart Study and the Women’s Health Initiative.

(Rare mutations reduce heart disease risk, NIH)

By the bye, I must mind not to rise on your hearth with only a glass of water then: I must bring an egg at the least, to say nothing of fried ham.

(Jane Eyre, by Charlotte Brontë)

There were three nags and two mares, not eating, but some of them sitting down upon their hams, which I very much wondered at; but wondered more to see the rest employed in domestic business; these seemed but ordinary cattle.

(Gulliver's Travels into several remote nations of the world, by Jonathan Swift)

At length, however, Mrs. Bennet had no more to say; and Lady Lucas, who had been long yawning at the repetition of delights which she saw no likelihood of sharing, was left to the comforts of cold ham and chicken.

(Pride and Prejudice, by Jane Austen)

Great rounds of beef, saddles of mutton, smoking tongues, veal and ham pies, turkeys and chickens, and geese, with every variety of vegetables, and a succession of fiery cherries and heavy ales were the main staple of the feast.

(Rodney Stone, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)