gammon

1 of 5

noun (1)

gam·​mon ˈga-mən 

1

chiefly British : ham sense 2

2

chiefly British

a

: a side of bacon

b

: the lower end of a side of bacon

gammon

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noun (2)

1

archaic : backgammon

2

: the winning of a backgammon game before the loser removes any men from the board

gammon

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verb (1)

gammoned; gammoning; gammons

transitive verb

: to beat by scoring a gammon

gammon

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verb (2)

gammoned; gammoning; gammons

intransitive verb

1

: to talk gammon

2

: pretend, feign

transitive verb

: deceive, fool

gammon

5 of 5

noun (3)

: talk intended to deceive

Synonyms

Verb (2)

• bamboozle
• beguile
• bluff
• buffalo
• burn
• catch
• con
• cozen
• deceive
• delude
• dupe
• fake out
• fool
• gaff
• gull
• have
• have on [chiefly British]
• hoax
• hoodwink
• hornswoggle
• humbug
• juggle
• misguide
• misinform
• mislead
• snooker
• snow
• spoof
• string along
• suck in
• sucker
• take in
• trick

Examples of gammon in a Sentence

Verb (2)

good-hearted contributors have been gammoned into believing that most of the charity's funds go to the needy and not into the pockets of the administrators

Recent Examples on the Web

Noun

Her ham in cola is a treasure of a dish that calls for boiling a gammon in two liters of Coca-Cola, with an onion chucked in for mellow savoriness. —New York Times, 8 Dec. 2021

Word History

Etymology

Noun (1)

assimilated form of earlier gambon, borrowed from Anglo-French gamboun, jaumbeun, from gambe, jambe "hock of a horse, leg" + -on, diminutive or particularizing suffix, going back to Latin -ō, -ōn-, suffix of persons with a prominent feature — more at jamb

Noun (2)

probably shortened from backgammon

Verb (1)

derivative of gammon entry 2

Verb (2)

derivative of gammon entry 5

Noun (3)

argot word, earlier in sense "criminal accomplice who distracts a victim during a robbery," of uncertain origin

First Known Use

Noun (1)

15th century, in the meaning defined at sense 1

Noun (2)

1699, in the meaning defined at sense 1

Verb (1)

1668, in the meaning defined above

Verb (2)

1781, in the meaning defined at intransitive sense 1

Noun (3)

1781, in the meaning defined above