▪ I. sham, n.1 and a.
(ʃæm)
Also 7 shamm(e.
[Of obscure origin; the word first appears as slang, together with the related verb, about 1677, and immediately came into very frequent use.
Commonly explained as in some way connected with sham, north. dial. form of shame n. and v. This is not impossible, on the supposition that the slang word arose from some once well-known anecdote or incident in a play. The following quot. may possibly contain a genuine tradition, but the alleged origin does not seem to account satisfactorily for the sense in the early examples. (North says that the word was introduced into general use, in the phrase ‘sham plot’, by Dangerfield; but it was already common some years before 1680, the date to which this statement refers.)
a 1734 North Exam. ii. iv. §1 (1740) 231 The word Sham is true Cant of the Newmarket Breed. It is contracted of ashamed. The native Signification is a Town Lady of Diversion, in Country Maid's Cloaths, who to make good her Disguise, pretends to be so sham'd! Thence it became proverbial, when a maimed Lover was laid up, or looked meager, to say he had met with a Sham.]
A. n.
† 1. a. A trick, hoax, fraud, imposture; something devised to impose upon, delude, or disappoint expectation; a ‘sell’. to put a sham upon: to hoax, defraud. to cut a sham: ‘to play a Rogue's trick’ (B.E. Dict. Cant. Crew, a 1700). Obs.
| 1677 [see sham v.1]. 1678 Lady Chaworth in 12th Rep. Hist. MSS. Comm. App. v. 53 A letter to the Secretary..some feare..that tis rather a sham to prevent stricter scherch. 1678 Otway Friendship in F. i. i, The Sham won't pass upon me, Sir, it won't look you. 1680 Refl. Late Libel on Curse-ye-Meroz 19 'Tis but a Tale, and a Story of his own making, like all the rest of the Sham's he would gladly put upon the Author. 1681 Luttrell Brief Rel. (1857) I. 66 Some scruple not to think this a shamm, and only an accusation to draw in others. 1688 Eng. Prot. Mem. to Pr. & P'cess Orange 19 They thought it an easie sham to say women misreckoned very often. a 1696 Aubrey Lives, Chaloner (1898) I. 160 He [Chaloner] wrote..an anonymous pamphlett, 8vo, scil. An account of the Discovery of Moyses's Tombe... 'Twas a pretty while before the shamme was detected. 1727 De Foe Hist. Appar. viii. 141 He..seem'd to laugh that she should first put such a Sham upon him, and then to tell such a formal Story to make it good. 1751 Affect. Narr. of Wager 31, I own, I ever look'd upon the whole Affair as a Sham. 1821 Praed Gog i. 191 You think I'm playing off a sham. |
† b. In generalized sense: Trickery, hoaxing.
| 1682 Oldham Sat. Imit. Juv. iii. Wks. (1703) 429 Let the Plot-mongers stay behind, whose Art Can Truth to Sham, and Sham to Truth convert. 1713 M. Henry Folly of Despising our own Souls Wks. 1855 I. 160 A man justly reckons himself affronted and resents it accordingly, who is imposed upon by sham and banter. |
† c. upon the sham: fraudulently, with deceitful purpose. Obs.
| 1689 T. R. View Govt. Europe 87 They negotiate upon the square, frankly, and without artifice, or double dealing, not disguised, or upon the sham. c 1691 Virgin's Compl. 25 in Bagford Ballads (1878) 931 Robin came upon the Sham, Told me many [a] Lye and Flam. |
† d. One who tries to delude, a humbug. Obs.
| 1677 Oldham Dithyr. Wks. (1703) 451 Hence holy Sham!.. To some raw ent'ring Sinner cant and whine, Who never knew the worth of Drunkenness and Wine. |
2. a. [Prob. developed from the adjectival or attributive uses.] Something that is intended to be mistaken for something else, or that is not really what it purports to be; a spurious imitation, a counterfeit.
| 1728 Morgan Algiers I. List of Subscribers, By retaining such a number of Names tho' Shams I might have showed away pompously. 1822 W. Fowler in Corr. 437 One window wanted in west front as sham. 1835 Campbell Epist. Algiers ix, For the pain of my thirst is no sham. a 1850 Rossetti Dante & Circle i. (1874) 237 That direst wolf shall seem like sweetest lamb Beneath the constant sham. 1861 Sat. Rev. 23 Nov. 524 To see whether the promised reduction of the naval and military forces of France is to be a reality or a sham. 1874 J. T. Micklethwaite Mod. Par. Churches 215 As dishonest a sham as the stucco stone ‘orders’ of modern Regent Street. 1877 Mrs. Forrester Mignon I. 244 She will have no shams, no imitations if she knows it. 1902 Buchan Watcher by Threshold 312 The hollow shams of life with their mincing conventions had departed. |
b. Applied to a person. Cf. 1 d.
| 1850 Carlyle Latter-d. Pamph. i. 15 The greatest sham, I have always thought, is he that would destroy shams. 1867 Trollope Chron. Barset I. xxiv. 214 Who can undertake to say that he is not a sham in anything? |
c. in generalized sense.
| 1843 Carlyle Past & Pr. i. v. 36 The laws of Sham and Semblance, which are called the Devil's Laws. 1857 Hughes Tom Brown i. ix, It's all sham—he's only afraid to fight it out. |
3. spec. † a. A false shirt-front or ‘dicky’; also see quot. 1785. b. (See quot.) c. A pillow-sham, see pillow n. 6. d. (? U.S.) A strip of fine linen put under the upper edge of the bedclothes and turned over, as if forming the upper end of the sheet (Cent. Dict., 1891).
| a. 1721 Steele Conscious Lover i. i, Wearing shams to make linen last clean a fortnight. 1772 Nugent Hist. Fr. Gerund II. 67 A silk handkerchief round their necks,..half shirts or shams of coarse linen. 1785 Grose Dict. Vulgar T. s.v. Sham, Shams, false sleeves to put on over a dirty shirt, or false sleeves with ruffles to put over a plain one. |
| b. 1863 R. B. Girdlestone Anat. Scepticism 68 He fills up the rest of his shop with shams (i.e. boxes supposed to be filled with everything that can be required). |
| c. 1884 Cottage Hearth (Boston) Aug. 254/1 Large shams made of four very small handkerchiefs..are elegant in appearance over blue or pink under covers. 1893 Scott. Leader 12 June 1 Beautifully embroidered..tray cloths, tea cloths, pillow cases, shams and sheets. |
| d. 1891 Century Dict. 1906 Williamson Lady Betty Across the Water 280 There are stiff square ‘shams’ to hide the pillows and turn down over the top of the sheet. |
B. attrib. and adj. (Sometimes with hyphen.)
1. a. Of immaterial things: Pretended, feigned, false, counterfeit; not genuine or true. sham fight: a mimic battle between two divisions of a military or naval force, either for exercise or display.
| 1681 Relig. Clerici To Rdr., Let Sham-truths be drawn as severally as mens fancies and humours please (yet) she [sc. Truth] her self hath nevertheless one regular, uniform, eternal Face. 1682 Otway Prol. to Mrs. Behn's City Heiress, Who..Wou'd lay sweet Money out in Sham-Thanksgivings? Sham-Plots you may have paid for o'er and o'er: But who ere paid for a Sham-Treat before? 1697 J. Lewis Mem. Dk. Glocester (1789) 91 Thus these sham fights began and ended, to the no small entertainment of the little Duke and his boys. 1699 E. S―cy Country Gentl. Vade M. 98 After a little Sham-squabble between the two Cheats, says the first, If [etc.]. 1708 Deplor. St. New Eng. 22 in Sewall's Diary (1879) II. 118* As soon as the Sham-Vote..was Gained, the Governour draws the Council in. 1714 Lond. Gaz. No. 5238/4 Known by the Sham Title of the Lady Rich. 1724 Welton 18 Disc. 70 We find our Blessed Saviour upbraiding those puritanick Jews..with a conscious hypocrisy and sham zeal. 1741 Richardson Pamela (1824) I. 90 Perchance, some sham-marriage may be designed, on purpose to ruin me. 1770 Foote Lame Lover ii. Wks. 1799 II. 71 Demurrers, sham-pleas, writs of error.., and imparlance. 1770 Junius Lett. xxxvi. (1788) 195, I do not refer to the sham prosecution which you affected to carry on against him. 1839 Lever H. Lorrequer i. 11 A sham-battle in the Fifteen Acres. 1846 O. W. Holmes Urania 24 And these..Are all impatience till the opening pun Proclaims the witty shamfight is begun. |
b. sham operation (Biol.), an operation in which an incision is made but nothing is removed, performed on animals of an experimental control group so that they suffer the same incidental effects of the operation as the animals on which a true operation is performed. Hence sham-ˈoperate vb. trans., to perform a sham operation on; sham-ˈoperated ppl. adj.
| 1963 Life Sci. II. 475 Rats..were thymectomized within the first eighteen hours after birth. Approximately half of the litters were sham-operated. The polyoma virus was injected subcutaneously either immediately after thymectomy or sham-operation or two to three weeks afterwards. Ibid. 477 Rats thymectomized at birth seem to be much more sensitive to the oncogenic action of the polyoma virus than are normal or sham-operated rats. 1970 Physiol. Zool. XLIII. 91/1 Matched animals in an approximately 1:1 ratio were ‘parietalectomized’..or sham-operated according to standard procedures. 1975 Nature 27 Mar. 349/1 Pinealectomy and sham operation were performed as described previously, and 10 d later a 2-mm semicircular wound was made in the right ear of each animal, including the controls. Ibid. 349/2 The result indicated that control, sham-operated, and melatonin-treated animals form one group. |
2. Of a person: That pretends or is falsely represented to be (what is denoted by the n.).
Now only as a transferred use of sense 3; hence several of the examples below are not quite in accord with present usage.
| 1683 Roxb. Ballads (1884) V. 251 When zealous Sham-Sheriffs the City oppose. 1690 Wood Life 4 Oct. (O.H.S.) III. 341 The discovery of the sham Prince of Wales is said to be very manifest. 1697 [J. Drake] (title) The Sham Lawyer: or the Lucky Extravagant. 1722 De Foe Moll Flanders 123 Not venturing to go myself, I sent several sham Messengers. 1727 ― Syst. Magic ii. ii. 278 The witch of Endor raised a sham Samuel in the room of the true prophet Samuel. 1756 C. Smart tr. Horace, Art P. [433] (1826) II. 351 So the sham-admirer is always more affected, than he that praises with sincerity. 1820 Keats Hyperion ii. 319 Dost thou forget, sham Monarch of the Waves, Thy scalding in the seas? 1841 Dickens Barn. Rudge lxxi, He had his foot upon the breast of their sham deliverer. 1841 Thackeray Shrove Tuesday in Paris Wks. 1900 XIII. 567 As the sham-fiends do in Don Juan. 1850 Carlyle Latter-d. Pamph. i. 13 The Kings were Sham-Kings, playacting as at Drury-Lane;—and what were the people withal that took them for real? |
3. Of material things or substances: Made in imitation of something else; made to appear to be something which it is not; made of inferior or base materials.
Now always implying reprobation; but in the earlier part of the 19th c. often used in tradesmen's price-lists, etc. as equivalent to ‘imitation’.
| 1699 E. S―cy Country Gentl. Vade M. 99 One of the other two conveys a Sham-bill under the Table, which [etc.]. a 1700 B. E. Dict. Cant. Crew, Masons-mason'd, a Sham⁓sore above the Elbow, to counterfeit a broken Arm, by a fall from a Scaffold. 1708 Swift Hist. Vanbrugh's Ho. 26 And so [he] resolved a house to build: A real house... Not a sham thing of clay or cards. 1722 De Foe Moll Flanders 239 She kept a sham Gold Watch..in her Pocket. 1762 Gentl. Mag. May 212 Behind the doors..is discovered a beautiful sham front of an organ. 1780 F. Burney Lett. 9 June, Send me a line by the diligence... Charlotte..will make it into a sham parcel. 1798 Hull Advertiser 24 Mar. 2/3 A very handsome..light airy chariot, with sham joints. 1848 Thackeray Van. Fair xxxv, The sham coat of arms which Osborne had assumed from the Peerage. 1876 Black Madcap Violet xvii. 149 Not one of the girls dared to wear a bit of sham jewellery. 1898 J. T. Fowler Durham Cath. 28 Decorated and Perpendicular windows have..been replaced by sham Norman ones. |
† 4. False, deceptive. Obs. rare.
| a 1721 Prior Ess. Opinion Wks. (1907) II. 194 Another..likes to see the Butcher of the West really wounded at the Bear-Garden, not content with the sham red that glows upon the Skirt of Banco's Ghost. 1727 De Foe Syst. Magic i. ii. (1840) 49 If they could have amused the king with any sham answer,..they would certainly have done it. |
5. Comb. Prefixed to other adjs. as sham-ancient, sham-dead, sham-serious, sham-Tudor; also with ns. forming compounds used attributively, as sham-twist. Also † sham-legged a., ? wooden-legged (but perh. error for shamble-legged).
| 1688 Lond. Gaz. No. 2339/4 One James Caulket,..a Dyer..sham leg'd, goes somewhat foundered. 1840 Carlyle Heroes v. (1841) 303 He who has once seen into this, has seen the difference of the True from the Sham-True. 1843 ― Past & Pr. i. v. 42 It is not governed by the wisest it has..but by the sham-wisest. 1850 ― Latter-d. Pamph. i. 26 My Christian friends, and indeed my Sham-Christian and Anti-Christian, and all manner of men, are invited to reflect on this. 1847 Mrs. Gore Castles ix. (1857) 69 A suite of sham-ancient steam-carved furniture. 1880 E. Maitland in Encycl. Brit. XI. 279/2 A sham-twist [gun-] barrel..[which] has all the appearance of a genuine twisted barrel. 1889 ‘F. Anstey’ Pariah iii. viii, The shabby little sham-marble mantle-piece was draped with embroidered cloth. 1909 Nation May 153/2 To this agitation we apply the term sham-serious. 1934 Discovery Oct. 304/1 It cannot be long before the incongruity of the sham-Tudor house with the 1934 interior is generally recognised. 1945 [see Jacobethan a.]. 1970 T. Hughes Crow 53 So in one hand he held a sham-dead spider. |
▪ II. sham, n.2 slang.
Short for champagne n.
| 1849 Thackeray Pendennis iv, A bottle of sherry, a bottle of sham, a bottle of port and a shass caffy, it ain't so bad hay, Pen? 1870 M. Collins Vivian III. xii. 240 Late hours and lots of hiced sham makes a man nervous. |
▪ III. sham, v.
(ʃæm)
[See sham n.1]
† 1. trans. To cheat, trick, deceive, delude with false pretences; to impose upon, take in, hoax. Obs.
| 1677 Wycherley Pl. Dealer iii. i. 44 Law. Why, I'm sure you jok'd upon me, and shamm'd me all night long. Man...Shamming! What does he mean by't Freeman? Free. Shamming, is telling you an insipid, dull Lye, with a dull Face, which the slie Wag the Author only laughs at himself; and making himself believe 'tis a good Jest, puts the Sham only upon himself. 1688 Shadwell Sq. Alsatia ii. Wks. 1720 IV. 42 Sirrah! most audacious rogue! do you sham me? do you think you have your uncle to deal with? 1693 Humours Town 69 Their highest Excellence is, to banter the Vintner, to bilk their Lodgings, to sham their Bookseller. 1821 Byron To Mr. Murray iv, So, if you will, I shan't be shamm'd. |
† b. To bring into, out of a condition, etc., or to deprive of something by ‘shamming’ or deception. Obs.
| 1681 T. Flatman Heraclitus Ridens No. 31 (1713) I. 201 These true Protestant Juries have the best luck at Shamming their Friends into Halters, that ever I knew in my Life. 1682 New News fr. Bedlam 9 Those Youths, who lately came..To sham us of our Lives and Liberty. 1692 R. L'Estrange Fables ccliii. 220 When they find themselves Fool'd and Shamm'd (as we say) into a Conviction. a 1733 J. Dunton Life & Err. (1818) I. iii. 44, I fell into my first amour like a Knight Errant, being purely shammed into it. |
† c. To put off, ‘fob off’ with something deceptive or worthless; to get rid of (a person) by some paltry excuse. Also with off. Obs.
| 1682 Tory Plot, or Discov. Design carried on by Addressers 9 William..was advanced to the Crown, and his Eldest Brother Robert shamm'd off with a Dukedom. 1683 Kennett tr. Erasm. on Folly 53 Princes..miss the advantage of being told the truth, and are shamm'd off by a parcel of insinuating Courtiers. 1712 Betterton in Misc. Poems 248 For Priests with empty thanks are never shamm'd. 1726 M. Henry Wks. (Fullarton) I. 142 Men may be shammed with a frivolous excuse. 1749 G. Lavington Enthus. Meth. & Papists ii. (1754) Pref. 21 Seeing then you have thus shammed us off with Counterfeit Coin. |
d. ? To make to appear a sham; to rid oneself of (an accusation) by deceit. Also with off.
| 1681 Trial of S. Colledge 57 If they can make me a Traytor, they will try it upon others, and so hope to sham off their own Treasons. Ibid. 76 They talk up and down the Town as if I did intend to sham the Popish Plot, and to make a Protestant Plot. Ibid. 131 When he was told of this, he began to put it off, and to use his own words, had a great mind to sham off the business. 1691 Providences of God 124 Edward Ivy had often Conference with Mrs. Collier, and the Popish Priests in Newgate, and had received Money to Sham the Popish Plot and to swear to a Protestant one. |
e. To make up deceitfully, to ‘fake’ up.
| 1679 ‘Tom Ticklefoot’ Obs. Trials of Wakeman, etc. 8 But by all that's good, it was my Old Master Clodpate's disease,..alwayes to Sham up an Evidence when any body had bin with him the Morning before. |
† 2. To impose or attempt to pass off (something) upon (a person) by deceit; to palm off. Obs.
| 1682 T. Flatman Heraclitus Ridens No. 68 (1713) II. 174 Then he Shams upon us, that the great Poets could not give Johnson his due Praise. a 1683 Oldham Sat. Jesuits Prol. 15 Are Texts, and such exploded Trifles fit T'impose, and sham upon a Jesuit? 1687 R. L'Estrange Answ. to Dissenter 48 To say nothing how Artificially the Writer of that Letter has Shamm'd upon the People his Majesties Act of Grace in favour of the Dissenters, for a Matter Concerted betwixt Them, and the Papists. 1692 ― Fables clxii. 136 Not..to Sham Fallacyes upon the World for Current Reason. 1722 De Foe Moll Flanders 44 Don't go to sham your Stories off upon me. 1751 G. Lavington Enthus. Meth. & Papists iii. (1754) 90 Franciscan Fryars, who never fail to sham them [Hysteric Fits] upon the World for Divine Ecstasies. |
† 3. intr. To practise deception or deceit. Obs.
| 1678 Otway Friendship in F. iii. i. 26 Malag. Oh, hang money Sir, your Father was an Alderman. Sir Nob. Well, get thee gone for an Arch-wagg—I do but sham all this while. 1682 Oldham Sat. Imit. Juv. iii. Wks. (1703) 434 Tho we say the same, He is believ'd, and we are thought to sham. 1689 Prior Ep. F. Shephard 171 All your Wits, that flear and sham. |
4. trans. a. To be or to produce a deceptive imitation of; † to pretend falsely to be (a person of a certain rank or character). † to sham one's glass: to make a pretence of drinking.
| 1698 Farquhar Love & Bottle iv. ii, A compound of practical rake and speculative gentleman, who..shams the beau and squire with a whore or chambermaid. a 1704 T. Brown tr. æneas Sylvius' Lett. xlv. Wks. 1709 III. ii. 74 Paint and fine Washes sham a complexion, which is none of their own. 1754 Chesterfield World No. 90 ¶7 He keeps up his spirits bravely, and never shams his glass. 1775 Sheridan Rivals i. i, Why does your master pass only for an ensign?—Now if he had shammed general indeed—. 1874 Symonds Sk. Italy & Greece (1898) I. x. 190 Tawdry frescoes shamming stonework. |
b. To assume the appearance of, counterfeit (a specified condition, action, etc.).
| 1775 F. Burney Early Diary (1889) II. 44 Shamming a little confusion, I confessed I knew not where it was. 1812 W. Taylor in Monthly Mag. XXXIV. 235 Read all thy spells, and I will hear, And fold my claws, and sham a tear. 1837 Carlyle Fr. Rev. II. v. v, Shamming death, ‘faisant le mort!’ 1843 F. E. Paget Warden of Berkingholt 246 She held the candle to my face while I was shamming sleep till I began to suspect she was up to me. 1869 ‘W. M. Cooper’ Flagellation xxii. 205 Persons shamming an epileptic fit. |
c. To ‘scamp’ (work). rare.
| 1848 Jrnl. R. Agric. Soc. IX. ii. 538 There is great room for the workmen to sham their work, without its being observable in appearance. |
5. intr. To make false pretences; to pretend to be, do, etc. what one is not, does not, does not mean, etc.; to feign. a. Followed by an adj. complement.
| 1787 Generous Attachment IV. 155, I preferred this scheme to that of shamming sick, as I looked so well. 1833 T. Hook Parson's Dau. ii. ii, If I had shammed sorry when I heard of old Alexander Marc Antony Anderson's death, I should have been as great a hypocrite as—I shan't say who. 1834 Marryat P. Simple xviii, What did you sham dead for? 1879 Meredith Egoist xxxv. (1889) 351 If you want me for a friend you must not sham stupid. |
b. simply.
| 1855 Macaulay Hist. Eng. xii. III. 169 Wondering within himself whether those who lectured him were such fools as they professed to be, or were only shamming. 1878 Bayne Purit. Rev. x. 407 He was canting and shamming. |
6. Phrase to sham Abra(ha)m (orig. Naut. slang), to feign sickness: see Abraham-man.
| 1752 Gentl. Mag. Mar. 140/2 As he [capt. Lowry] went along some sailors cry'd out..that He must not sham Abram (a cant sea phrase when a sailor is unwilling to work on pretence of sickness, and used by the captain when Hossack was almost expiring under his blows). 1760 Goldsm. Cit. W. cxix, The boatswain..swore..that I shammed Abraham merely to be idle. 1827 Scott Surg. Dau. vi, It's good enough, and too good, for a set of lubbers, that lie shamming Abraham. 1860 [see Abraham-man]. 1863 Reade Hard C. xxxi. (1868) 265 He's shamming Abraham. |
b. Hence sham-Abra(ha)m quasi-n., malingering, deception. Also quasi-adj., hypocritical.
| 1828 [J. P. Collier] Punch & Judy 87 None of your sham-Abram. 1840 T. Hook in New Monthly Mag. LVIII. 442 She is all shamabram and humbug before me. |
| 1837 Hood Ode to Rae Wilson 62, I..treat sham Abr'am saints with wicked banters. |
Hence † shammed ppl. a., ˈshamming vbl. n. and ppl. a.
| ? c 1677 Obscure Prince in Roxb. Ballads (1883) IV. 625 Call't the shamm'd Story of the blackened Box. 1677 Wycherley Pl. Dealer iv. ii. 66 You noble Wits are so full of shamming, and droling, one knows not where to have you, seriously. 1682 A. Behn City Heiress v. i. 50 A Shamming Rogue; the right Sneer and Grin of a dissembling Whig. 1682 London's Joy & Loyalty in Roxb. Ballads (1883) IV. 632 Now the loud threat'ning Tempest is dispers'd, And all their shamming Plots are quite revers'd. 1692 Scarronides ii. 11 What glavering shamming toads the rest are. |