spam

Alternative forms

• Spam, SPAM

Etymology

The original sense (canned ham) is a proprietary name registered by Geo. A. Hormel & Co. in U.S., 1937. It is presumed to be a conflation of either spiced ham or shoulder of pork and ham^[1] but was soon extended to other kinds of canned meat. Hormel spells the trademarked name in all upper case.

The use for unsolicited and unwanted email derives from a Monty Python sketch (Flying Circus, Episode 25). In the 1970 sketch, a group of Vikings in a restaurant repeatedly chant the word "spam". The earliest recorded real-life use for this sense occurs around 1993 which finds reference in an email dated March 31, 1993.

The term appears to have been used earlier in a different sense in relation to "Multi-User Dungeons" (MUDs), a kind of multi-user computer gaming environment before widespread use of the Internet, in the 1980s.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈspæm/
• also (æ-tensing) IPA^(key): [ˈspeəm]
• Rhymes: -æm

Noun

spam (countable and uncountable, plural spams)

1. (uncountable, rarely countable, computing, Internet) Unsolicited bulk electronic messages.

   Antonym: ham

   • 2013 May 25, “No hiding place”, in The Economist‎, volume 407, number 8837, page 74:

     In America alone, people spent $170 billion on “direct marketing”—junk mail of both the physical and electronic varieties—last year. Yet of those who received unsolicited adverts through the post, only 3% bought anything as a result. If the bumf arrived electronically, the take-up rate was 0.1%. And for online adverts the “conversion” into sales was a minuscule 0.01%. That means about $165 billion was spent not on drumming up business, but on annoying people, creating landfill and cluttering spam filters.

   I get far too much spam.

   I received 58 spams yesterday.

2. (uncountable, computing, Internet) Any undesired electronic content automatically generated for commercial purposes.
3. A type of tinned meat made mainly from ham.

Verb

spam (third-person singular simple present spams, present participle spamming, simple past and past participle spammed)

1. (intransitive, computing, Internet) To send spam (i.e. unsolicited electronic messages.)
2. (transitive, computing, Internet) To send spam (i.e. unsolicited electronic messages) to a person or entity.
3. (transitive, by extension, video games) To relentlessly attack an enemy with (a spell or ability).

   Stop spamming that special attack!

4. (transitive, intransitive, computing, Internet) To post the same text repeatedly with disruptive effect; to flood.

See also

• Wikipedia article on spamming
• Official SPAM home page

References

Anagrams

• AMPS, APMs, MPAs, amps, maps, pams, sAMP, samp

Etymology 1

Borrowed from English spam.

Etymology 2

See spamme.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /spɑm/

• Audio

  (file)

Verb

spam

1. first-person singular present indicative of spammen
2. imperative of spammen

Etymology

Borrowed from English spam.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /spam/

Noun

spam m (plural spams)

1. spam (meat)
2. (computing, Internet) spam

Etymology

Borrowed from English spam.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): [ˈspɛm]

Noun

spam (plural spamek)

1. (computing, Internet) spam

Noun

spam (plural spams)

1. (computing, Internet) spam

Etymology

Borrowed from English spam.

Noun

spam m (invariable)

1. (Internet) spam

Etymology

Borrowed from English spam.

Noun

spam m (plural spans)

1. (computing, Internet) spam

Etymology

Borrowed from English spam.

Noun

spam m (plural spams)

1. (computing) spam

Etymology

Borrowed from English spam.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): [spam]
• Hyphenation: spam

Noun

spam (definite accusative spamı, plural spamlar)

1. (computing, Internet) spam

Etymology

Borrowed from English spam.

Pronunciation

• (Hà Nội) IPA^(key): [spam˧˧]
• (Huế) IPA^(key): [spam˧˧]
• (Hồ Chí Minh City) IPA^(key): [spam˧˧]
• Phonetic: xpăm

Noun

spam

1. (computing, Internet) spam