SHAM • DICCIONARIO INGLES.COM • Definition of Sham

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/ʃæm/ Listen

noun

Sham n.

That which deceives expectation; any trick, fraud, or device that deludes and disappoints; a make-believe; delusion; imposture; humbug. "A mere sham." "Believe who will the solemn sham, not I."

A false front, or removable ornamental covering.

Pillow sham, a covering to be laid on a pillow.

verb

Sham v. t. (past & past part. shammed; pres. part. shamming)

To trick; to cheat; to deceive or delude with false pretenses. "Fooled and shammed into a conviction."

To obtrude by fraud or imposition. (R.) "We must have a care that we do not... sham fallacies upon the world for current reason."

To assume the manner and character of; to imitate; to ape; to feign.

To sham Abram or To sham Abraham, to feign sickness; to malinger. Hence a malingerer is called, in sailors' cant, Sham Abram, or Sham Abraham.

Sham v. i. To make false pretenses; to deceive; to feign; to impose. "Wondering... whether those who lectured him were such fools as they professed to be, or were only shamming."

adjective

Sham adj. False; counterfeit; pretended; feigned; unreal; as, a sham fight. "They scorned the sham independence proffered to them by the Athenians."

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Etymology of 'Sham'

Collaborative International Dictionary of English 0.48

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"Sham" Quotes from Famous Books

... obtain a hearing. He spoke with great vigour and fluency. He denounced the letter as an outrage which should be proclaimed from one end of Europe to the other; that it was not their town, or their club, or themselves had been insulted, but Ireland! that this mock-lord (cheers)—this sham viscount—(greater cheers)—this Brummagem peer, whose nobility their native courtesy and natural urbanity had so long deigned to accept as real, should now be taught that his pretensions only existed on sufferance, and had no claim beyond the polite ...

— Lord Kilgobbin • Charles Lever

... to the adventure, was caught by the redness and whiteness, the brandnewness and compactness of the little houses; she was seduced beyond prudence by the sham porphyry pillar. ...

— The Combined Maze • May Sinclair

... a backwoods town plays a prominent part. The hero of the story is made a victim of their annoying intrigues, but finally comes out triumphant by smashing the petty red tapism, knocking down the sham pretentions and by actual use of the fist on the Head Instructor ...

— Botchan (Master Darling) • Mr. Kin-nosuke Natsume, trans. by Yasotaro Morri

... of the real Jack Benson on the scene, in contrast with the sham one, had opened the boatbuilder's eyes. He could not fathom, yet, what it all meant, but he was certain that his hitherto trusted young captain would be able to explain ...

— The Submarine Boys' Trial Trip - "Making Good" as Young Experts • Victor G. Durham

... as in the sixteenth century, there is a figure on the great cross. It is curious to note an attempt, during the rage for pseudo-classic architecture in the last century, to beautify the reredos by placing sham funeral urns in its niches. These were fortunately removed in 1820, and in recent years they have been replaced by a series of statues intended to reproduce as far as possible the original effect. In the Builder for October 10, 1892, a large reproduction was given of a very interesting ...

— Bell's Cathedrals: The Cathedral Church of Winchester - A Description of Its Fabric and a Brief History of the Episcopal See • Philip Walsingham Sergeant

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