gam

[gam]

See more synonyms for gam on Thesaurus.com

noun Slang.

a person's leg, especially an attractive female leg.

Origin of gam

1775–85; probably < Polari < Italian gamba leg; see jamb¹

gam

[gam]

noun

a herd or school of whales.
Eastern New England, Nautical. a social meeting, visit, or the like, as between whaling vessels at sea.

verb (used without object), gammed, gam·ming.

(of whales) to assemble into a herd or school.
Nautical. (of the officers and crews of two whaling vessels) to visit or converse with one another for social purposes.
Eastern New England. to participate in a gam or social visit.

Origin of gam

1840–50, Americanism; perhaps dialectal variant of game¹

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018

Related Words for gam

wheel, leg, extremity, stem, arm, branch, wing, chitchat, parley, tease, projection, pin, lobe, spur, bough, spray, member, process, switch, part

Examples from the Web for gam

Historical Examples of gam

There was but one blot upon his character—he hated Mrs. Gam.
The Paris Sketch Book of Mr. M. A. Titmarsh
William Makepeace Thackeray
There is also another difference—there are no ladies at a gam.
Fighting the Whales
R.M. Ballantyne
A “gam,” good reader, may be described as a “small tea-party” on the sea.
Philosopher Jack
R.M. Ballantyne
Judge Chester, the magistrate, was at the head of the gam, and so it was bound to succeed.
Sailing Alone Around The World
Joshua Slocum
Amal′gam, a name applied to the alloys of mercury with the other metals.
The New Gresham Encyclopedia. Vol. 1 Part 1
Various

British Dictionary definitions for gam

gam

noun

a school of whales
nautical an informal visit between crew members of whalers
NZ a flock of large sea birds

verb gams, gamming or gammed

(intr) (of whales) to form a school
nautical (of members of the crews of whalers) to visit (each other) informally
(tr) US to visit or exchange visits with

Word Origin for gam

C19: perhaps dialect variant of game 1

gam

noun

slang a leg, esp a woman's shapely leg

Word Origin for gam

C18: probably from Old Northern French gambe or Lingua Franca gambe; see jamb

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 gam

"a leg," 1781, see gams.