gammon

See also: Gammon

English

Pronunciation

  • enPR: gă'mən, IPA(key): /ˈɡæmən/, alternatively IPA(key): /ˈɡɑmən/
  • Rhymes: -æmən

Etymology 1

From Old French gambon (compare modern French jambon (“ham”)), from gambe (“leg”), from Late Latin *gamba, from Ancient Greek κάμπη (kámpē), from Proto-Indo-European *kamp- (“to bend; crooked”).

Noun

gammon (countable and uncountable, plural gammons)

  1. The lower or hind part of a side of bacon.
Translations

Verb

gammon (third-person singular simple present gammons, present participle gammoning, simple past and past participle gammoned)

  1. To cure bacon by salting.

Etymology 2

Probably a special use of Middle English gamen (“game”).

Noun

gammon (plural gammons)

  1. (backgammon) A victory in backgammon achieved when the opponent has not taken a single stone; (also, rarely, backgammon, the game itself).

Verb

gammon (third-person singular simple present gammons, present participle gammoning, simple past and past participle gammoned)

  1. (backgammon) To beat by a gammon (without the opponent taking a stone).

Translations

Etymology 3

Perhaps related to the first etymology, with reference to tying up a ham.

Noun

gammon (plural gammons)

  1. (nautical) A rope fastening a bowsprit to the stem of a ship (usually called a gammoning).

Verb

gammon (third-person singular simple present gammons, present participle gammoning, simple past and past participle gammoned)

  1. To lash with ropes (on a ship).
Translations

Etymology 4

Perhaps a special use of the word from etymology 2.

Noun

gammon (plural gammons)

  1. (dated) Chatter, ridiculous nonsense.

Verb

gammon (third-person singular simple present gammons, present participle gammoning, simple past and past participle gammoned)

  1. (colloquial, dated) To deceive, to lie plausibly.
    • 1959, Georgette Heyer, chapter 1, in The Unknown Ajax:
      And no use for anyone to tell Charles that this was because the Family was in mourning for Mr Granville Darracott […]: Charles might only have been second footman at Darracott Place for a couple of months when that disaster occurred, but no one could gammon him into thinking that my lord cared a spangle for his heir.

Etymology 5

Gained popularity in 2017 (in the phrase "Great Wall of Gammon", likening the referents' rosy complexions to gammon (“ham, bacon”)), although it was in use earlier (the BBC points to a 2016 use of "gammon face", and some have connected the term to Charles Dickens' description of such a man's "gammon tendency" in Nicholas Nickleby).

Noun

gammon (countable and uncountable, plural gammons)

  1. (neologism, pejorative) A middle-aged or older right-wing white man, or such men collectively.

Further reading

  • George Pierpoint (14 May 2018), “Why your social media is covered in gammon”, in BBC News‎, BBC

References

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