"sham Abraham" meaning in English

See sham Abraham in All languages combined, or Wiktionary

Verb

IPA: /ʃæm ˈeɪ.bɹəˌhæm/ [US], /ʃæm ˈeɪ.bɹə.həm/ [US] Forms: shams Abraham [present, singular, third-person], shamming Abraham [participle, present], shammed Abraham [participle, past], shammed Abraham [past]
Etymology: First attested in the late 18ᵗʰ century. From sham + Abraham man (“a beggar who pretends to be ill”) Etymology templates: {{m|en|sham}} sham, {{m|en|Abraham man|gloss=a beggar who pretends to be ill}} Abraham man (“a beggar who pretends to be ill”) Head templates: {{en-verb|*}} sham Abraham (third-person singular simple present shams Abraham, present participle shamming Abraham, simple past and past participle shammed Abraham)
  1. (idiomatic, obsolete, UK, thieves' cant) To pretend sickness or insanity. Tags: UK, idiomatic, obsolete Synonyms: do Abram, chuck a sickie, pull a sickie, throw a sickie, sham Abram Hypernyms: shirk Related terms: Abraham sham, Abram sham, play possum
    Sense id: en-sham_Abraham-en-verb-zLRTYp3N Categories (other): British English, English Thieves' Cant, English entries with incorrect language header

Inflected forms

Alternative forms

Download JSON data for sham Abraham meaning in English (2.3kB)

{
  "etymology_templates": [
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "en",
        "2": "sham"
      },
      "expansion": "sham",
      "name": "m"
    },
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "en",
        "2": "Abraham man",
        "gloss": "a beggar who pretends to be ill"
      },
      "expansion": "Abraham man (“a beggar who pretends to be ill”)",
      "name": "m"
    }
  ],
  "etymology_text": "First attested in the late 18ᵗʰ century. From sham + Abraham man (“a beggar who pretends to be ill”)",
  "forms": [
    {
      "form": "shams Abraham",
      "tags": [
        "present",
        "singular",
        "third-person"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "shamming Abraham",
      "tags": [
        "participle",
        "present"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "shammed Abraham",
      "tags": [
        "participle",
        "past"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "shammed Abraham",
      "tags": [
        "past"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "head_templates": [
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "*"
      },
      "expansion": "sham Abraham (third-person singular simple present shams Abraham, present participle shamming Abraham, simple past and past participle shammed Abraham)",
      "name": "en-verb"
    }
  ],
  "lang": "English",
  "lang_code": "en",
  "pos": "verb",
  "senses": [
    {
      "categories": [
        {
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "British English",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w"
        },
        {
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "English Thieves' Cant",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w"
        },
        {
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "English entries with incorrect language header",
          "parents": [
            "Entries with incorrect language header",
            "Entry maintenance"
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          "source": "w"
        }
      ],
      "examples": [
        {
          "ref": "1759, Oliver Goldsmith, The Works of Oliver Goldsmith, volume 3, published 1835, The Citizen of the World, Letter CXIX, page 331",
          "text": "The boatswain found me, as he said, an obstinate fellow: he swore that I understood my business perfectly well, but that I shammed Abraham merely to be idle.",
          "type": "quotation"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "To pretend sickness or insanity."
      ],
      "hypernyms": [
        {
          "word": "shirk"
        }
      ],
      "id": "en-sham_Abraham-en-verb-zLRTYp3N",
      "links": [
        [
          "pretend",
          "pretend"
        ],
        [
          "sickness",
          "sickness"
        ]
      ],
      "qualifier": "thieves' cant",
      "raw_glosses": [
        "(idiomatic, obsolete, UK, thieves' cant) To pretend sickness or insanity."
      ],
      "related": [
        {
          "word": "Abraham sham"
        },
        {
          "word": "Abram sham"
        },
        {
          "word": "play possum"
        }
      ],
      "synonyms": [
        {
          "word": "do Abram"
        },
        {
          "word": "chuck a sickie"
        },
        {
          "word": "pull a sickie"
        },
        {
          "word": "throw a sickie"
        },
        {
          "word": "sham Abram"
        }
      ],
      "tags": [
        "UK",
        "idiomatic",
        "obsolete"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "sounds": [
    {
      "ipa": "/ʃæm ˈeɪ.bɹəˌhæm/",
      "tags": [
        "US"
      ]
    },
    {
      "ipa": "/ʃæm ˈeɪ.bɹə.həm/",
      "tags": [
        "US"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "word": "sham Abraham"
}
{
  "etymology_templates": [
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      "expansion": "sham",
      "name": "m"
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    {
      "args": {
        "1": "en",
        "2": "Abraham man",
        "gloss": "a beggar who pretends to be ill"
      },
      "expansion": "Abraham man (“a beggar who pretends to be ill”)",
      "name": "m"
    }
  ],
  "etymology_text": "First attested in the late 18ᵗʰ century. From sham + Abraham man (“a beggar who pretends to be ill”)",
  "forms": [
    {
      "form": "shams Abraham",
      "tags": [
        "present",
        "singular",
        "third-person"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "shamming Abraham",
      "tags": [
        "participle",
        "present"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "shammed Abraham",
      "tags": [
        "participle",
        "past"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "shammed Abraham",
      "tags": [
        "past"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "head_templates": [
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "*"
      },
      "expansion": "sham Abraham (third-person singular simple present shams Abraham, present participle shamming Abraham, simple past and past participle shammed Abraham)",
      "name": "en-verb"
    }
  ],
  "hypernyms": [
    {
      "word": "shirk"
    }
  ],
  "lang": "English",
  "lang_code": "en",
  "pos": "verb",
  "related": [
    {
      "word": "Abraham sham"
    },
    {
      "word": "Abram sham"
    },
    {
      "word": "play possum"
    }
  ],
  "senses": [
    {
      "categories": [
        "British English",
        "English Thieves' Cant",
        "English entries with incorrect language header",
        "English idioms",
        "English lemmas",
        "English multiword terms",
        "English terms with IPA pronunciation",
        "English terms with obsolete senses",
        "English terms with quotations",
        "English verbs"
      ],
      "examples": [
        {
          "ref": "1759, Oliver Goldsmith, The Works of Oliver Goldsmith, volume 3, published 1835, The Citizen of the World, Letter CXIX, page 331",
          "text": "The boatswain found me, as he said, an obstinate fellow: he swore that I understood my business perfectly well, but that I shammed Abraham merely to be idle.",
          "type": "quotation"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "To pretend sickness or insanity."
      ],
      "links": [
        [
          "pretend",
          "pretend"
        ],
        [
          "sickness",
          "sickness"
        ]
      ],
      "qualifier": "thieves' cant",
      "raw_glosses": [
        "(idiomatic, obsolete, UK, thieves' cant) To pretend sickness or insanity."
      ],
      "tags": [
        "UK",
        "idiomatic",
        "obsolete"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "sounds": [
    {
      "ipa": "/ʃæm ˈeɪ.bɹəˌhæm/",
      "tags": [
        "US"
      ]
    },
    {
      "ipa": "/ʃæm ˈeɪ.bɹə.həm/",
      "tags": [
        "US"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "synonyms": [
    {
      "word": "do Abram"
    },
    {
      "word": "chuck a sickie"
    },
    {
      "word": "pull a sickie"
    },
    {
      "word": "throw a sickie"
    },
    {
      "word": "sham Abram"
    }
  ],
  "word": "sham Abraham"
}

This page is a part of the kaikki.org machine-readable English dictionary. This dictionary is based on structured data extracted on 2024-05-20 from the enwiktionary dump dated 2024-05-02 using wiktextract (1d5a7d1 and 304864d). The data shown on this site has been post-processed and various details (e.g., extra categories) removed, some information disambiguated, and additional data merged from other sources. See the raw data download page for the unprocessed wiktextract data.

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