cam

[ 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.

Nearby words

calyx, calzaghe, calzone, calèche, caló, cam, cam follower, cam plant, cam ranh, cam ranh bay, cam wheel

Origin of cam

< Dutch or Low German kam, kamm. See comb¹

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

British Dictionary definitions for camming (1 of 3)

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 camming (2 of 3)

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 camming (3 of 3)

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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