gammon
gammon Lexical Profile
gammon Game Scores & Validity
• noun
British Meat from the hind leg of a pig that has been cured by salting or smoking like bacon and must be cooked before being eaten.
"We served roasted gammon with pineapple rings and roasted potatoes for Sunday dinner."
In backgammon, a victory in which the winner removes all of their pieces before the loser has removed any, counting as a double win.
"With two lucky rolls of the dice, she secured a gammon and doubled her score in the match."
British (archaic or informal) Nonsense, humbug, or ridiculous talk intended to deceive someone.
"The shopkeeper dismissed the traveler's extravagant excuses as pure gammon."
• verb
To defeat an opponent in backgammon before they have borne off a single piece, thereby scoring a double victory.
"He managed to gammon his opponent in the final round of the tournament."
British To deceive, hoax, or mislead someone with plausible talk or false pretenses (now chiefly archaic or dialectal).
"The con artist tried to gammon the tourists into buying counterfeit tickets."
To cure the hind leg of a pig by salting and smoking to make bacon or gammon.
"Traditional butchers still gammon the pork cuts in their own smokehouses."
Word Nuance & Usage
In culinary usage, 'gammon' refers to cured pork from the hind leg that is sold raw and must be cooked before eating, whereas 'ham' is typically sold already cooked or dry-cured and ready to eat.
• Rhymes for gammon
Word Origin & Etymology
The culinary sense comes from Anglo-Norman French 'gambon', an augmentative of 'gambe' (leg), ultimately from Late Latin 'gamba' (hock or leg). The game and deception senses derive from Middle English 'gamen' (game, play, or sport), from Old English 'gamen'.