cam
1[ kam ]
/ kæm /
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.
RELATED WORDS
absurd, askance, asymmetrical, awry, crazy, crooked, lopsided, ludicrous, nonsensical, preposterous, squint, askant, canted, cross-eyed, strabismic
Nearby words
Origin of cam
1cam
2[ kam ]
/ kæm /
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
2First recorded in 1975–80; shortening of camera1
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.
CAM
[ kam ]
/ kæm /
noun
computer-aided manufacturing.
Origin of CAM
First recorded in 1965–70
Cam.
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2019
Examples from the Web for cam
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
Cam
/ (kæm) /
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)
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