gam

1 of 3

noun (1)

ˈgam 

slang

: leg

gam

2 of 3

noun (2)

1

: a visit or friendly conversation at sea or ashore especially between whalers

2

: a school of whales

gam

3 of 3

verb

gammed; gamming

intransitive verb

: to engage in a gam (see gam entry 2 sense 1)

transitive verb

1

: to have a gam with (see gam entry 2 sense 1)

2

: to spend or pass (time) talking

Did you know?

But what is a gam? You might wear out your index-finger running up and down the columns of dictionaries, and never find the word. So says the narrator, who calls himself Ishmael, of Herman Melville’s Moby Dick. These days you will indeed find "gam" entered in dictionaries; Merriam-Webster’s Collegiate Dictionary defines the noun "gam" as "a visit or friendly conversation at sea or ashore especially between whalers." (It can also mean "a school of whales.") Melville’s narrator explains that when whaling ships met far out at sea, they would hail one another and the crews would exchange visits and news. English speakers have been using the word gam to refer to these and similar social exchanges since the mid-19th century.

Examples of gam in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web

Noun

Great for fall’s cooler weather, these surprisingly stretchy pants will keep your gams warm. —Wendy Altschuler, Forbes, 6 Sep. 2024

But the real question for most men — regardless of their stance on the shorts length debate — is how to style summer shorts to look on-trend, flatter their form, and feel comfortable and confident while showing off those gams. —Adam Mansuroglu, WWD, 22 July 2024

The commissioner said monitoring of various betting activities helped the league detect several incidents this year involving people prohibited from being associated with the gam. —Bruce Haring, Deadline, 12 July 2024

End of carousel How else to account for the will and the grit to fight through the effects of a car accident that resulted in a compound fracture of one of those glorious gams? —Peter Marks, Washington Post, 31 Jan. 2024

The high-low style shows off your gorgeous gams and the off-the-shoulder silhouette gives this dress serious evening elegance. —Alesandra Dubin, Woman's Day, 1 Apr. 2023

Verb

All 30 teams will compete for the NBA Cup beginning with group stage gams from Nov. 12 to Dec. 3. —Jason Anderson, Sacramento Bee, 13 July 2024

Word History

Etymology

Noun (1)

originally in British underworld argot, probably going back to Lingua Franca gamba "leg," going back to Italian, going back to Late Latin — more at jamb

Noun (2)

perhaps short for gammon entry 5

Verb

derivative of gam entry 2

First Known Use

Noun (1)

circa 1785, in the meaning defined above

Noun (2)

1831, in the meaning defined at sense 1

Verb

1849, in the meaning defined at intransitive sense

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