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• cam
  cam

  noun

  a disk or cylinder having an irregular form such that its motion, usually rotary, gives to a part or parts in contact with it a specific rocking or reciprocating motion.
• Cam
  Cam

  noun

  a river in E England flowing NE by Cambridge, into the Ouse River. 40 miles (64 km) long.
• CAM
  CAM

  noun

  computer-aided manufacturing.
• Cam.
  Cam.

  abbreviation

  Cambridge.
• -cam
  -cam

  combining form

  camera

cam

¹ American  

[kam] / kæm /

noun

1. Machinery. a disk or cylinder having an irregular form such that its motion, usually rotary, gives to a part or parts in contact with it a specific rocking or reciprocating motion.

2. Automotive Slang. camshaft.

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verb (used with object)

cammed, camming

1. to provide (a machine part or mechanism) with a cam or cams.

cam ² American  

[kam] / kæm /

noun

1. a camera, especially one that records video (often used in combination, as in ).

   She's a professional photographer who uses state-of-the-art cams.

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Cam ³ American  

[kam] / kæm /

noun

1. a river in E England flowing NE by Cambridge, into the Ouse River. 40 miles (64 km) long.

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CAM ⁴ American  

[kam] / kæm /

noun

1. computer-aided manufacturing.

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Cam. ⁵ American  

abbreviation

1. Cambridge.

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CAM ¹ British  

abbreviation

1. complementary and alternative medicine

2. computer-aided manufacture

3. botany crassulacean acid metabolism: a form of photosynthesis, first described in crassulaceous plants, in which carbon dioxide is taken up only at night

4. Cameroon (international car registration)

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-cam ² British  

combining form

1. camera

   webcam

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Cam ³ British  

/ kæm /

noun

1. a river in E England, in Cambridgeshire, flowing through Cambridge to the River Ouse. Length: about 64 km (40 miles)

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cam ⁴ British  

/ kæm /

noun

1. a slider or roller attached to a rotating shaft to give a particular type of reciprocating motion to a part in contact with its profile

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Etymology

Origin of cam¹

< Dutch or Low German kam, kamm. See comb

Origin of cam²

First recorded in 1975–80; shortening of camera ¹ ( def. )

Origin of CAM⁴

First recorded in 1965–70

Example Sentences

Do not visit a CAM practitioner instead of seeing your GP.

From BBC • Jul. 31, 2024

Female evaluators judged those with skewed downward gazes more harshly than male evaluators, and the difference in the evaluation of the CAM and SKW stimuli for female interviewees was larger than the male interviewees.

From Science Daily • Jun. 17, 2024

CAM is what makes the Western militaries so good, it was designed with the Soviet military approach in mind.

From Salon • Jul. 3, 2023

CAM includes components like processed nickel, lithium and other materials that make up about 40% of the cost of a battery, the industry ministry said in a statement.

From Reuters • May 29, 2023

The clumsy signature CAM was probably intended for Campi, the real author, and its genuineness is not above suspicion.

From Giorgione by Cook, Herbert