cam

[kam]

SEE MORE SYNONYMS FOR cam ON THESAURUS.COM

noun

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.

Automotive Slang. camshaft.

verb (used with object), cammed, cam·ming.

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

Origin of cam

< Dutch or Low German kam, kamm. See comb¹

cam

[kam]

noun

a camera, especially one that records video (often used in combination, as indigital cam; traffic cam; webcam):She's a professional photographer who uses state-of-the-art cams.

Origin of cam

First recorded in 1975–80; shortening of camera¹

Cam

[kam]

noun

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

Also called Granta.

CAM

[kam]

noun

computer-aided manufacturing.

Origin of CAM

First recorded in 1965–70

Cam.

Cambridge.

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2019

Related Words for cam

absurd, askance, asymmetrical, awry, crazy, crooked, lopsided, ludicrous, nonsensical, preposterous, squint, askant, canted, cross-eyed, strabismic

Examples from the Web for cam

Contemporary Examples of cam

You might have suspected it when you saw Mitch and Cam get married.
The Gays Are Taking Over TV (Well, Kind Of)
Kevin Fallon
October 1, 2014
Same-sex marriage is legalized in California, meaning that Mitch and Cam (Eric Stonestreet) can get married.
Jesse Tyler Ferguson's Personal Stories Behind His 'Modern Family' Marriage Arc
Jesse Tyler Ferguson
August 12, 2014
A former student named Cam Miller attended the hearing in person and offered the last statement.
The First Modern School Shooter Feels Responsible for the Rest
Michael Daly
May 30, 2014
How monumental, though, that this wedding introduced us, for the first time as husbands, Mitch and Cam.
Modern Family’s Big, Gay (and Important) Wedding
Kevin Fallon
May 22, 2014
Then came the clamoring for what people wanted Mitch and Cam to represent, more than what they maybe actually did.
Modern Family’s Big, Gay (and Important) Wedding
Kevin Fallon
May 22, 2014

Historical Examples of cam

The morn's mornin' cam, an' by that time I had decided on my plan o' operautions.
Camps, Quarters and Casual Places
Archibald Forbes
He's jist as dour as ever, and as far as man could weel be frae them he cam o'!
Salted With Fire
George MacDonald
And it's no the first time he's been owre there to see me sin' he cam hame!'
Heather and Snow
George MacDonald
Or again, he would know that the effect could be achieved by a cam.
Essays: Scientific, Political, & Speculative, Vol. I
Herbert Spencer
And as he cam towarde them, he askyd and sayd: is he fat, is he fat?
Shakespeare Jest-Books;
Unknown

British Dictionary definitions for cam

cam

noun

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

Word Origin for cam

C18: from Dutch kam comb

Cam

noun

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

CAM

abbreviation for

complementary and alternative medicine

computer-aided manufacture

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

Cameroon (international car registration)

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Word Origin and History for cam

n.1

"a projecting part of a rotating machinery," 1777, from Dutch cam "cog of a wheel," originally "comb;" cognate of English comb (n.). This might have combined with English camber "having a slight arch;" or the whole thing could be from camber.

n.2

abbreviation of camera, by 1990.