Ham \Ham\ (h[aum]m), n.
   Home. [North of Eng.] --Chaucer.
   [1913 Webster]

	

	Ham \Ham\ (h[a^]m), n. [AS. ham; akin to D. ham, dial. G. hamme,
   OHG. hamma. Perh. named from the bend at the ham, and akin to
   E. chamber. Cf. Gammon ham.]
   [1913 Webster]
   1. (Anat.) The region back of the knee joint; the popliteal
      space; the hock.
      [1913 Webster]

   2. The thigh of any animal; especially, the thigh of a hog
      cured by salting and smoking.
      [1913 Webster]

            A plentiful lack of wit, together with most weak
            hams.                                 --Shak.
      [1913 Webster]

	

	Ham \Ham\ (h[a^]m), n.
   1. [Short for hamfatter.] a person who performs in a showy
      or exaggerated style; -- used especially of actors. Also
      used attributively, as, a ham actor.
      [PJC]

   2. The licensed operator of an amateur radio station.
      [PJC]

	

	Ham \Ham\ (h[a^]m), v. i. (Theater)
   To act with exaggerated voice and gestures; to overact.
   [PJC]

   ham it up to act in a showy fashion or to act so as to
      attract attention; to ham. [Colloq.]
      [PJC]

	

	ham
    n 1: meat cut from the thigh of a hog (usually smoked) [syn:
         ham, jambon, gammon]
    2: (Old Testament) son of Noah
    3: a licensed amateur radio operator
    4: an unskilled actor who overacts [syn: ham, ham actor]
    v 1: exaggerate one's acting [syn: overact, ham it up,
         ham, overplay] [ant: underact, underplay]

	

	156 Moby Thesaurus words for "ham":
   ARRL, acting, actor-proof, all-star, amateur radio operator, ankle,
   bacon, ballet, balletic, bayonet legs, be theatrical, bowlegs,
   buffoonery, business, butt, calf, characterization, chitterlings,
   cinematic, cinematographic, cnemis, cochon de lait,
   control engineer, country town, cracklings, crossroads, declaim,
   dramatic, dramatical, dramaturgic, drumstick, emote, emotionalize,
   fat back, film, filmic, flitch, foreleg, gag, gamb, gambrel,
   gammon, gigot, grimace, grimacer, gush, ham actor, ham it up,
   ham steak, hamlet, hammy, hammy acting, haslet, headcheese,
   hind leg, histrionic, hock, hoke, hokum, impersonation, jamb,
   jambon, jambonneau, knee, lard, leg, legitimate, limb,
   make a scene, melodramatic, milked, mimesis, mimicking, mimicry,
   miming, mixer, monitor, monodramatic, movie, mug, mummery,
   operatic, out-herod Herod, overact, overacted, overacting,
   overdramatize, overplayed, pantomiming, patter, performance,
   performing, personation, picnic ham, pieds de cochon, pig,
   playacting, playing, podite, popliteal space, pork, porkpie,
   portrayal, projection, radio electrician, radio engineer,
   radio operator, radio technician, radioman, radiotelegrapher,
   radiotrician, rant, representation, roar, salt pork, scenic,
   scissor-legs, sentimentalize, shank, shin, side of bacon,
   slapstick, slobber over, slop over, small ham, sowbelly,
   spectacular, spout, stage business, stage directions,
   stage presence, stagelike, stageworthy, stagy, starstruck, stellar,
   stems, stumps, stunt, suckling pig, taking a role, tarsus,
   theaterlike, theatrical, theatricalize, thespian, thorp,
   throw away, thrown away, trotters, underact, underacted,
   underplayed, vaudevillian, village, wick

	

	ham


    The opposite of spam, sense 3; that is, incoming mail that the user
    actually wants to see.

	

	Ham
   warm, hot, and hence the south; also an Egyptian word meaning
   "black", the youngest son of Noah (Gen. 5:32; comp. 9:22,24).
   The curse pronounced by Noah against Ham, properly against
   Canaan his fourth son, was accomplished when the Jews
   subsequently exterminated the Canaanites.
   
     One of the most important facts recorded in Gen. 10 is the
   foundation of the earliest monarchy in Babylonia by Nimrod the
   grandson of Ham (6, 8, 10). The primitive Babylonian empire was
   thus Hamitic, and of a cognate race with the primitive
   inhabitants of Arabia and of Ethiopia. (See ACCAD.)
   
     The race of Ham were the most energetic of all the descendants
   of Noah in the early times of the post-diluvian world.

	

	Ham, hot; heat; brown