▪ I. cham, n.
(kæm)
Also 6 cam, 7 chaem: see khan.
[a. F. and med.L. cham, chan, can (also caanus, canis), ad. Turki khān lord, prince, khan, a contracted form of the earlier khāqān chagan; it was assumed by Chingīz when he became supreme ruler of the Mongols and Tartars; the modified form qā'ān became the specific title of the successors of Chingīz Khān as emperors of China.]
An obsolete form of khan formerly commonly applied to the rulers of the Tartars and Mongols; and to the emperor of China. (Rarely to governors of provinces.)
| [c 1400 Mandeville xviii. 188 The grete Cane of Cathay. Ibid. xxi. 222 Whi he was clept the gret Chane.] 1553 Eden Treat. New Ind. (Arb.) 12 Vnder the dominion of the great Cham or Cane, Emperour of Tartaria. 1577 Hist. Trav. (ed. Willes) 265 They haue muche knowledge of the great Cam of Cathay. 1599 Shakes. Much Ado ii. i. 277, I will..fetch you a hayre off the great Chams beard. 1653 H. Cogan Pinto's Trav. xxiii. §3. 84 One of those [chairs] wherein the principall Chaems of the Empire are usually carried. 1709 Lond. Gaz. No. 4579/1 The Grand Signior had received an Express from the Cham of Tartary. 1760 Goldsm. Cit. W. xliii, Prodigal in the production of kings, governors, mandarins, chams, and courtiers. 1813 Examiner 26 Apr. 266/2 Chams are stiff gentlemen. |
b. transf. and fig.
| 1602 Warner Alb. Eng. x. lviii. 254 Against this Cham [Duke of Guise] and his Beau-Peeres, inuited English goe. 1655 Francion v. 4, I..am the great Cham..of all the wits. 1759 Smollett Let. in Boswell Johnson xiii. (ed. Napier) I. 276, I am again your petitioner, in behalf of that great Cham of literature, Samuel Johnson. 1879 W. W. Synge Tom Sing. II. iii. 32 The great cham of criticism. |
▪ II. † cham, chamm, v. Obs. exc. dial.
(tʃæm)
[see champ v.]
1. To bite, chew; = champ v. 1–3.
| 1398 Trevisa Barth. De P.R. xvii. v. 606 It is full harde and maye not be chewed and whyles men chamme theron, the bytter sauour wythin is not felte. 1530 Tindale Answ. More iii. xiii, The priest toucheth not Christs natural body with his hands..nor chammeth it with his teeth. 1530 Palsgr. 480/2 Chamme the breed in your mouthe. 1675 Hobbes Odyss. xii. 263 When she my men cham'd in her ugly chaps. 1825 Britton Beauties Wilts. Gloss. (E.D.S.) Cham, to chew. 1881 Smith Isle Wight Gloss. (E.D.S.) Cham, to chew. 1888 [Heard in Oxford from a native.] |
2. = champ v. 6; to pound, mash. dial.
In South of Scotland, as ‘to cham sand’, for strewing on wet floors.
Hence chammed ppl. a., ˈchamming vbl. n.
| 1519 W. Horman Vulg. 339 Glewe made of chammed whete. 1528 More Heresyes iii. Wks. 242/1 Not for y⊇ reading & receiuing: but for the busy chamming therof [the scripture]. 1599 Sandys Europæ Spec. (1632) 7 They confine them to the chamming of their beads. 1611 Cotgr., Masché..chawed chewed, chammed, champed. |
▪ III. cham
obs. and dial. f. I am: see ch, and I.
| 1568 T. Howell Arb. Amitie (1879) 90 And vor manhood, cham zure cham good. 1580 H. Gifford Gilloflowers (1875) 132 Cham zure my vurst goodman is dere. |