gammon

• enPR: gă'mən, IPA^(key): /ˈɡæmən/, alternatively IPA^(key): /ˈɡɑmən/
• Rhymes: -æmən

From Old French gambon (compare modern French jambon (“ham”)), from gambe (“leg”), from Late Latin *gamba, from Ancient Greek κάμπη (kámpē), from Proto-Indo-European *kamp- (“to bend; crooked”).

gammon (countable and uncountable, plural gammons)

1. The lower or hind part of a side of bacon.

gammon (third-person singular simple present gammons, present participle gammoning, simple past and past participle gammoned)

1. To cure bacon by salting.

Probably a special use of Middle English gamen (“game”).

gammon (plural gammons)

1. (backgammon) A victory in backgammon achieved when the opponent has not taken a single stone; (also, rarely, backgammon, the game itself).

• backgammon

gammon (third-person singular simple present gammons, present participle gammoning, simple past and past participle gammoned)

1. (backgammon) To beat by a gammon (without the opponent taking a stone).

Perhaps related to the first etymology, with reference to tying up a ham.

gammon (plural gammons)

1. (nautical) A rope fastening a bowsprit to the stem of a ship (usually called a gammoning).

gammon (third-person singular simple present gammons, present participle gammoning, simple past and past participle gammoned)

1. To lash with ropes (on a ship).

Perhaps a special use of the word from etymology 2.

gammon (plural gammons)

1. (dated) Chatter, ridiculous nonsense.
   • 1836, Charles Dickens, The Pickwick Papers 40:

     ‘Come, none o’ this gammon,’ growled Smouch, giving him another, and a harder one.

   • 1911: Ambrose Bierce, The Devil's Dictionary

     He swore that all other religions were gammon,
     And wore out his knees in the worship of Mammon.

gammon (third-person singular simple present gammons, present participle gammoning, simple past and past participle gammoned)

1. (colloquial, dated) To deceive, to lie plausibly.
   • 1959, Georgette Heyer, chapter 1, in The Unknown Ajax:

     And no use for anyone to tell Charles that this was because the Family was in mourning for Mr Granville Darracott […]: Charles might only have been second footman at Darracott Place for a couple of months when that disaster occurred, but no one could gammon him into thinking that my lord cared a spangle for his heir.

   • 2016, Cathy McLennan, Saltwater, →ISBN:

     This blackfulla's driving a car. Copper stops 'im, says, “Did you know you were speeding?” Blackfulla says, “No.” His Missus goes, “Oh yeah you did, eh.” Cop says, “Did you know your tail lights aren't working? Guy says, "No". His missus says, "You did an' all, Dont you gammon to them coppers." Guy goes to his Missus, "Shut up!" Copper asks the Missus, "Does he always talk to you like that?" She goes, "Only when he's drunk!"

Gained popularity in 2017 (in the phrase "Great Wall of Gammon", likening the referents' rosy complexions to gammon (“ham, bacon”)), although it was in use earlier (the BBC points to a 2016 use of "gammon face", and some have connected the term to Charles Dickens' description of such a man's "gammon tendency" in Nicholas Nickleby).

gammon (countable and uncountable, plural gammons)

1. (neologism, derogatory, Britain) A middle-aged or older right-wing, reactionary white man, or such men collectively.

• George Pierpoint (14 May 2018), “Why your social media is covered in gammon”, in BBC News‎, BBC