ham

from WordNet (r) 3.0 (2006)

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}]

from The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48

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]

from The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48

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

from The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48

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]

from The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48

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]

from Jargon File (4.4.4, 14 Aug 2003)

ham


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

from Easton's 1897 Bible Dictionary

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.

from Hitchcock's Bible Names Dictionary (late 1800's)

Ham, hot; heat; brown

from Moby Thesaurus II by Grady Ward, 1.0

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