Dictionary.com

cam

1
[ kam ]
/ kæm /
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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.
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Origin of cam

1
<Dutch or Low German kam, kamm.See comb

Other definitions for cam (2 of 5)

cam2
[ kam ]
/ kæm /

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

Origin of cam

2
First recorded in 1975–80; shortening of camera1

Other definitions for cam (3 of 5)

Cam
[ kam ]
/ kæm /

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

Other definitions for cam (4 of 5)

CAM
[ kam ]
/ kæm /

noun

Origin of CAM

First recorded in 1965–70

Other definitions for cam (5 of 5)

Cam.

abbreviation
Cambridge.
Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023

How to use cam in a sentence

British Dictionary definitions for cam (1 of 4)

cam
/ (kæm) /

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

British Dictionary definitions for cam (2 of 4)

Cam
/ (kæm) /

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

British Dictionary definitions for cam (3 of 4)

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)

British Dictionary definitions for cam (4 of 4)

-cam

n combining form
camerawebcam
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
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