sam
sam Lexical Profile
sam Game Scores & Validity
• noun
A guided missile designed to be launched from the ground or a ship to intercept and destroy aircraft or other airborne targets (usually capitalized as SAM, short for surface-to-air missile).
"The defense network relies on radar systems integrated with mobile SAM batteries to monitor the airspace."
American A member of the Know-Nothing Party, a 19th-century nativist American political movement (historical, usually capitalized).
"Historians of 1850s American politics frequently examine how a Sam organized local chapters during state elections."
• verb
British To bring or gather together into one place; to assemble or collect (archaic or northern English dialect).
"The farmhands worked before dusk to sam the scattered hay into neat stacks across the meadow."
British To curdle milk by adding rennet in the process of making cheese (northern English dialect).
"In traditional farmhouse dairies, the cheesemaker would warm the milk in a copper vat before adding rennet to sam it."
Word Nuance & Usage
Most commonly encountered in modern English either as the uppercase military acronym SAM (surface-to-air missile) or as the diminutive proper name Sam; the lowercase verb meaning to gather together is now archaic or strictly dialectal.
• Rhymes for sam
Word Origin & Etymology
As a military noun, an acronym coined in the mid-20th century from the initial letters of 'surface-to-air missile'. The dialectal verb derives from Old English samnian ('to assemble, collect, or gather'), related to Old Norse samna.
Usage Trend
Historical frequency of usage in published text.