ham

Plural: hams

Noun

meat cut from the thigh of a hog (usually smoked)
(Old Testament) son of Noah
a licensed amateur radio operator
an unskilled actor who overacts
The region back of the knee joint; the popliteal space; the hock.
A thigh and/or buttock of a hog slaughtered for meat; (occasionally) the corresponding cut from some other animal.
Meat from the thigh and/or buttock of a hog cured for food.
The back of the thigh of humans or certain other animals.
Electronic mail that is wanted; email that is not spam or junk mail.
Obsolete form of home.
An overacting or amateurish performer; an actor with an especially showy or exaggerated style.
An amateur radio operator.

Verb

Verb Forms: hammed, hamming, hams

To overact or perform in an exaggerated, theatrical manner.
exaggerate one's acting
To overact; to act with exaggerated emotions.

Examples

a little piece of ham for the cat
Some players HAM their victory dances, even after a small word scores big.

Origin / Etymology

Inherited from Middle English hamme, from Old English hamm (“inner or hind part of the knee, ham”), from Proto-West Germanic *hammu, from Proto-Germanic *hamō, *hammō, *hanmō, from Proto-Indo-European *kónh₂m (“leg”).
Cognate with Dutch ham (“ham”), dialectal German Hamme (“hind part of the knee, ham”), dialectal Swedish ham (“the hind part of the knee”), Icelandic höm (“the ham or haunch of a horse”), Old Irish cnáim (“bone”), Ancient Greek κνήμη (knḗmē, “shinbone”). Compare gammon and gam.

Synonyms

gammon, ham actor, ham it up, jambon, overact, overplay, chew the scenery#Verb, ham e-mail, ham it up#Verb, hambone, hamfatter, melodramatize#Verb, overact#Verb, overactor, radio amateur, tear a cat#Verb, tear-cat

Antonyms

underact, junk mail, spam

Scrabble Score: 8

ham: valid Scrabble (US) TWL Word
ham: valid Scrabble Word in Merriam-Webster MW Dictionary
ham: valid Scrabble Word in International Collins CSW Dictionary

Words With Friends Score: 8

ham: valid Words With Friends Word