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• 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.

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ham ² American  

[ham] / hæm /

noun

1. an actor or performer who overacts.

2. an operator of an amateur radio station.

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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.

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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!

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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

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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

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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.

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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.

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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

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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

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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

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

From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 4, 2026

Not dramatically on sale, in the way of a holiday ham wearing a fluorescent sticker that announces some brief and glorious collapse in the market.

From Salon ● Aug. 25, 2026

Would you climb Irvine's 25ft greasy pole for a ham?

From BBC ● Aug. 15, 2026

“I like that Mrs. Penworthy,” Lord Fredrick remarked to Miss Mortimer, as he helped himself to a ham on rye.

From "The Long-Lost Home" by Maryrose Wood

In the summer, Spurs twice broke their transfer record with three of their first signings, as they added centre-back Jan Paul van Hecke from Brighton, Fernandes from West Ham and Sandro Tonali from Newcastle.

From BBC ● Oct. 24, 2026

Ohtani has pitched more than 132 innings once since 2016, when he was 22 and playing for the Nippon Ham Fighters.

From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 16, 2026

West Ham, for example, won a European competition three years ago, Wolves are recent top-flight regulars; likewise Stade de Reims, twice European Cup runners-up, and eight-time French champions Nantes.

From BBC ● Oct. 10, 2026

Two days later it happened again, when Scotland striker Kirsty Hanson was the only British player to start for Tottenham in their win over West Ham.

From BBC ● Sep. 22, 2026

I tapped on the window and motioned for Ham to roll it down.

From "The View From Saturday" by E.L. Konigsburg

The HAM index correctly predicted whether individuals could walk outside for 10 minutes without stopping with accuracy of about 68%.

From Science Daily ● Mar. 8, 2024

“If you say anything bad about Long Beach in front of me I’ll go HAM, even if it’s true. I haven’t felt that energy in other parts of L.A.”

From Los Angeles Times ● Apr. 14, 2022

The network is divided into regions, where leaders sometimes hold training sessions on HAM radios, firearms or emergency first aid.

From Seattle Times ● Oct. 25, 2021

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

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

Olives, hams and sausages, tinned seafood, fresh loaves, classic Spanish cheeses.

From Salon ● Jun. 23, 2026

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

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

From New York Times ● Mar. 26, 2024

It said appetite for traditional Christmas dinner items was particularly strong in 2023, with volumes of parsnips, sprouts and potatoes up, along with festive meats including pigs in blankets, sausages, hams and turkeys.

From BBC ● Jan. 3, 2024

On buffet tables, garnished with glistening hors-d'oeuvre, spiced baked hams crowded against salads of harlequin designs and pastry pigs and turkeys bewitched to a dark gold.

From " The Great Gatsby" by F. Scott Fitzgerald

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

“He landed funny on his knee and hammed his hip, and we were really worried about it,” Carroll said.

From Seattle Times ● Aug. 9, 2023

He offered no introduction beyond theatrically raised eyebrows and a teasing smile, and he swayed and hammed it up until people started laughing and dancing in line.

From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 26, 2022

Slopper hammed it up a bit, trying to mimic and trying to pretend that wasn’t the case.

From "The Marrow Thieves" by Cherie Dimaline

Twenty minutes later, they are on stage rehearsing The Happy Dictator; followed by Shaun Ryder, hamming up his part on the 2005 classic Dare!

From BBC ● Jun. 21, 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

The 450-pound porker wandered from his pen last week then moseyed on down the road, where he was caught hamming it up on the Molgaard family’s security camera.

From Seattle Times ● Mar. 6, 2024

More than that, he seems to relish it, hamming it up as the babies reach out to touch him.

From Slate ● Jun. 24, 2023

I nodded weakly, hamming it up just a bit.

From "Twilight" by Stephenie Meyer

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