Showing results for "ham"

Jump To:

• ham
  ham

  noun

  a cut of meat from the heavy-muscled part of a hog's rear quarter, between hip and hock, usually cured.
• Ham
  Ham

  noun

  (in the Bible) the second son of Noah.
• HAM
  HAM

  adverb

  hard as a motherfucker: in an extremely high-energy manner; to an exceptional degree (a euphemistic acronym used as a description of intensity, without explicit vulgarity).

SEE ALSO:

Slang dictionary results for ham.

ham

¹ American  

[ham] / hæm /

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.

---

ham ² American  

[ham] / hæm /

noun

1. an actor or performer who overacts.

2. an operator of an amateur radio station.

---

verb (used with or without object)

• hams,
  present (3rd person singular)
• hammed,
  past participle,  past
• hamming
  present participle

1. to act with exaggerated expression of emotion; overact.

idioms

1. ham it up, to overact; ham.

Ham ³ American  

[ham] / hæm /

noun

1. (in the Bible) the second son of Noah.

---

HAM ⁴ American  

[ham] / hæm /

Or ham

adverb

Slang.

1. hard as a motherfucker: in an extremely high-energy manner; to an exceptional degree (a euphemistic acronym used as a description of intensity, without explicit vulgarity).

   Nothing can stop me from partying HAM this spring break!

---

idioms

1. go HAM, to exhibit optimal energy or enthusiasm; to make a great effort.

   The team went HAM on the final play and mowed down the defense.

ham ¹ British  

/ hæm /

noun

1. informal theatre

   1. an actor who overacts or relies on stock gestures or mannerisms

   2. overacting or clumsy acting

   3. ( as modifier )

      a ham actor

2. informal

   1. a licensed amateur radio operator

   2. ( as modifier )

      a ham licence

---

verb

1. informal to overact

ham ² British  

/ hæm /

noun

1. the part of the hindquarters of a pig or similar animal between the hock and the hip

2. the meat of this part, esp when salted or smoked

3. informal

   1. the back of the leg above the knee

   2. the space or area behind the knee

4. needlework a cushion used for moulding curves

---

Ham Cultural  

1. 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.

---

Usage

What else does ham mean? To go ham is to put in an extraordinary, even aggressive, amount of effort. If you went crazy eating ham, you'd be going ham on some ham. In this sense, ham may stand for hard as a motherf****r.

Discover More

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.

Egypt (see also 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.

Other Word Forms

Inflected Forms

Participles

• hamming
  present
• hammed
  past

Conjugated Forms

Present

• ham
  simple
• hams
  simple
• have hammed
  perfect
• has hammed
  perfect
• am hamming
  progressive
• are hamming
  progressive
• is hamming
  progressive
• have been hamming
  perfect progressive
• has been hamming
  perfect progressive

Past

• hammed
  simple
• had hammed
  perfect
• was hamming
  progressive
• were hamming
  progressive
• had been hamming
  perfect progressive

Future

• will ham
  simple
• will have hammed
  perfect
• will be hamming
  progressive
• will have been hamming
  perfect progressive

Etymology

Origin of ham¹

before 1000; Middle English hamme, Old English hamm bend of the knee; cognate with Middle Dutch, Middle Low German hamme, Old High German hamma; akin to Old Norse hǫm buttock; perhaps akin to Greek knḗmē shin, Old Irish cnáim bone

Origin of ham²

First recorded in 1880–85; short for hamfatter, after The Hamfat Man, a Black minstrel song celebrating an awkward man

Origin of HAM⁴

From its use in digital communications

Explanation

Ham is a type of pork, or meat that comes from a pig. If you order a ham sandwich at a deli, you'll get a pile of thinly-sliced meat between two slices of bread. Most ham is preserved in some way, either smoked or salted, and traditionally this meat comes from a hog's hind legs. For many people who celebrate Easter, ham is a typical main dish. Ham, defined in the 1630s as "meat from the hind leg of a pig," comes from the Old English hamm, "hollow or bend of the knee." If you're a performer described as a ham, it means your acting is way too theatrical or exaggerated.

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

ham Ham HAM hams hammed hamming

But just as we wouldn’t expect Ted Lasso to solve a grisly homicide, we probably shouldn’t assume a Dick Wolf regular who isn’t Christopher Meloni can ham it up for a live audience.

From Salon ● Sep. 15, 2026

Servings of processed meats such as ham, sausages and chicken nuggets have been reduced to once a week and must come with a side of vegetables or fruit.

From BBC ● Sep. 13, 2026

We have the summer season passes and we just go ham.

From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 4, 2026

Michelle Monaghan, always good, is also among the cast, as homicide detective Amanda Beck, though she lays low enough to duck all the free-floating ham in this adaptation of Alex North’s 2019 novel.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 28, 2026

He held out a hand as big as a whole ham.

From "Lawn Boy" by Gary Paulsen

After playing for youth academies such as Arsenal, West Ham United and Chelsea, Gabriel signed with Manchester United at age 11.

From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 15, 2026

Miklosko won promotion to the old First Division with West Ham in 1990-91, his first full season with the club.

From BBC ● Sep. 14, 2026

West Ham said a period of appreciation will be shown to Miklosko before kick-off in their Carabao Cup third-round match at Fulham on Tuesday.

From BBC ● Sep. 14, 2026

Days later he returned to West Ham for a Premier League match against Liverpool to a hero's reception.

From BBC ● Sep. 14, 2026

The other two brothers covered Noah up with a blanket, but Ham busted his britches laughing.

From "The Poisonwood Bible" by Barbara Kingsolver

Having participated in a 50K trail run in Big Bend, where the runners are isolated and only communicate through HAM radio, he understands it’s not the same rush you get with people.

From Los Angeles Times ● Mar. 12, 2026

They found that the HAM Index was better than other commonly used aging metrics -- including the frailty index, gait speed and the Montreal Cognitive Assessment test -- at distinguishing healthy and rapid agers.

From Science Daily ● Mar. 8, 2024

If they wanna go HAM on the gifts, might as well try to make something useful come out if it!

From Slate ● Mar. 6, 2019

Jim Sellars worked more than three decades for a telephone company, served as a reserve police officer and had a lifelong passion for weather and HAM radios.

From Seattle Times ● May 24, 2018

He wore bright blue orthopedic sandals, a faded Bob Marley T-shirt, and a white baseball hat that said, HAM, BACON, SAUSAGE.

From "The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks" by Rebecca Skloot

ChatGPT said she’d need to make two turkeys, two hams and six pies to feed all those guests.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 25, 2025

For example, the beautiful local cheese, or country hams, as well as oysters and other amazing products.

From Salon ● Jul. 16, 2024

There is a pleasing calm to her delivery that stands out in a scene of fidgety hams.

From New York Times ● Mar. 26, 2024

"This is a particular worry as we enter the busiest period of the year in the run up to Christmas when our members are preparing festive products like hams and pigs-in-blankets."

From BBC ● Oct. 28, 2023

The men shift hams, nervous for the first time, Laura notes gleefully.

From "How the García Girls Lost Their Accents" by Julia Alvarez

They played to the paparazzi, vamping at high-profile events including the Kentucky Derby and the White House Correspondents’ Assn. dinner, and hammed it up in “caught off-guard” moments at the supermarket or over lunch.

From Los Angeles Times ● May 18, 2026

Now their AI capability, however obscure, is hammed up.

From BBC ● Jan. 12, 2024

We don’t know if Nguyễn Phú Trọng, general secretary of the Communist Party of Vietnam, was briefed on the age discussion in advance, but he really hammed it up for the press.

From Slate ● Sep. 11, 2023

Janie Dee hammed up “The Boy From …” a parody of “The Girl from Ipanema.”

From Seattle Times ● May 3, 2022

Several sailors did imitations of Cockney boys begging for a treat as Marston hammed it up as an ice cream vendor.

From "Shipwreck at the Bottom of the World" by Jennifer Armstrong

Equally, you might not have believed her for a second, and thought she was hamming up her pain because it's all gone wrong.

From BBC ● May 31, 2026

He performed badly in sports and in school, but was a decent singer and could get a chuckle hamming it up in the school play.

From Salon ● Jan. 10, 2025

Was it necessary to have the head coach of the Warriors and a former Bulls shooting guard hamming it up on the party’s biggest night?

From Slate ● Aug. 20, 2024

And in a brilliant bit of acting by Patrick Stewart, you can see that he’s hamming it up for the cadets.

From New York Times ● Mar. 9, 2023

They were sitting on the deck, staring at Percy, but when he glared at them pointedly, they started hamming it up again, trembling and flopping around like fish.

From "The Mark of Athena" by Rick Riordan

Related Words

• hot dog