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gam

¹

[gam]

|

noun Slang.

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

Origin of gam

¹

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

gam

²

[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

²

1840–50, Americanism; perhaps dialectal variant of game¹

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

Related Words for gams

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 gams

Contemporary Examples of gams

I belong to the “Soccer Hater” demographic – middle-aged Republican crank with long, blonde hair and a great pair of gams.
Up To a Point: Oops, I Enjoyed Soccer
P. J. O’Rourke
July 13, 2014
I belong to the “Soccer Hater” demographic—middle-aged Republican crank with long, blonde hair and a great pair of gams.
DUP-Up To a Point: Oops, I Enjoyed Soccer
P. J. O’Rourke
July 13, 2014

Historical Examples of gams

Gams, Zur Geschichte der spanischen Staatsinquisition, p. 34.
A History of the Inquisition of Spain; vol. 1
Henry Charles Lea
I suppose the Colonel goes down to the Ship Chandler's and gams with the old whaling captains.
Vanished Arizona
Martha Summerhayes
The red row of marks along her gams, raw and terrible, sprang to his sight out of the darkness.
Waysiders
Seumas O'Kelly
He is certainly the best of all the Gams, and appears to be very liberal.
Journals of Travels in Assam, Burma, Bhootan, Afghanistan and The
William Griffith

British Dictionary definitions for gams

gam

¹

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

²

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 gams

n.

"legs," 1781, low slang, probably the same word as gamb "leg of an animal on a coat of arms" (1727) and ultimately from Middle English gamb "leg," from Old North French (see gammon). Now, in American English slang, especially with reference to well-formed legs of pretty women, but this was not the original sense.

gam

n.

"a leg," 1781, see gams.

Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper