ham — English Dictionary

Noun

1. The region back of the knee joint; the popliteal space; the hock.

   Usage

   • Countable
   • Uncountable

2. A thigh and/or buttock of a hog slaughtered for meat; (occasionally) the corresponding cut from some other animal.

   Usage

   • Countable

   Broader terms

   cutmeatfood

   Examples

   "I'll have you so your hams will stand out like horse's shanks!" de declared.

3. Meat from the thigh and/or buttock of a hog cured for food.

   Usage

   • Uncountable

   Broader terms

   meatfood

   Examples

   a little piece of ham for the cat

   She put some ham in the beans and cut up some sweet potatoes to boil.

4. The back of the thigh of humans or certain other animals.

   Usage

   • Countable
   • Uncountable

5. Electronic mail that is wanted; email that is not spam or junk mail.

   Usage

   • Internet
   • Countable
   • Informal
   • Uncommon
   • Uncountable

   Synonyms

   ham e-mail

   Antonyms

   spamjunk mail

Noun

1. An overacting or amateurish performer; an actor with an especially showy or exaggerated style.

   Synonyms

   hambonehamfatteroveractortear-cat

   Examples

   More examples (1)

   Writing in The New Yorker in 2005, James Wood praised Mr. McCarthy as “a colossally gifted writer” and “one of the great hams of American prose, who delights in producing a histrionic rhetoric that brilliantly ventriloquizes the King James Bible, Shakespearean and Jacobean tragedy, Melville, Conrad, and Faulkner.”

2. An amateur radio operator.

   Synonyms

   radio amateur

Verb

1. To overact; to act with exaggerated emotions.

   Synonyms

   ham it upchew the scenerymelodramatizeoveracttear a catcamp it up

   Related words

   mugposego ham

   Examples

   Near-synonym: camp it up

Noun

1. meat cut from the thigh of a hog (usually smoked)

   Synonyms

   jambongammon

   Broader terms

   cut of pork

2. a licensed amateur radio operator

   Broader terms

   radio operator

3. an unskilled actor who overacts

   Synonyms

   ham actor

   Broader terms

   actorhistrionplayerthespianrole player

Verb

1. exaggerate one's acting

   Synonyms

   overactham it upoverplay

   Broader terms

   actplayroleplayplayact