Green’s Dictionary of Slang

(Aus.) breeches, trousers.

1895

Crowe Aus. Sl. Dict. 34: Ham Bags, trousers.

breeches, trousers.

1785, 1788, 1796		Grose Classical Dict. of the Vulgar Tongue.
1811		Lex. Balatronicum.
1823		Egan Grose’s Classical Dict. of the Vulgar Tongue.
1889–90		Barrère & Leland Dict. of Sl., Jargon and Cant.
1890–1904		Farmer & Henley Sl. and Its Analogues.

(prizefighting) the stomach.

1825

Pierce Egan’s Life in London 2 Jan. 389/2: Ward [...] made an attack upon his ham cupboard, which was nearly spoiling his indigestion.

(US campus) the pressing of a bare buttock against a window in order to shock passers-by; the genitals can be subsituted for the buttocks.

1975		J. Wambaugh Choirboys (1976) 75: The episode [...] became known as The Night the Padre Tried to Eat Pressed Ham Through the Wrapper.
1989		(ref. to 1960s) H. Rawson Dict. of Invective (1991) 39: Related expressions include [...] shooting beaver (female exhibitionism, similar to mooning or shooting moon which is—or was, in the 1960s—the public display of naked buttocks, also known as, when placed firmly againt car windows, pressed ham).
1999		Roger’s Profanisaurus 3 in Viz 98 Oct. 23: pressed ham n. The effect achieved by pushing one’s naked buttocks onto the photocopier at the office Christmas party.

(US campus) to have sexual intercourse.

1987

Eble Campus Sl. Fall.

to press one’s bare buttocks against a car window.

1970

(con. 1950s) H. Junker ‘The Fifties’ in Eisen Age of Rock 2 (1970) 101: Slipping them some pressed ham involved pressing one’s bare butt against the window.

(US) an order of ham and eggs; sometimes ham and beans.

1886		St Louis (MO) Globe-Democrat 31 Aug. 10/1: Such cries as [...] ‘ham and’ for ham and eggs, ‘hat mystery’ for pie, and similar expressions are heard constantly.
1888		N.Y. Herald 1 Apr. 9/6: Another young man called for ‘ham an’’: this meant ham and beans.
1905		H. Green Actors’ Boarding House (1906) 30: I’ll bet fi’pence they wouldn’t dig intuh a plate uv ham an’ – in forty years.
1915		NY Tribune 6 Oct. 18/6: Young Mr Weeghman, who owns hundreds of restaurants [...] used to serve hundreds of moderately prosperous Chicagoans with ‘ham and’.
1918		‘Max Brand’ ‘Above the Law’ in Coll. Stories (1994) 18: Two dollars for ham and – in jay dump.
1921		E.R. Burroughs Efficiency Expert 50: And here’s Little Eva with a plate of ham and at four o’clock in the afternoon.
1938		A.I. Bezzerides Long Haul 29: ‘Bring her ham-and,’ said Nick.
1951		R. Starnes Grant’s Tomb 187: ‘[W]hat’ll it be? Waffles and sausage? Ham and? Or just a big pot of coffee?’.

a café selling basic dishes, e.g. ham and eggs.

1916		Univ. Missourian (Columbia, MO) 30 Jan. 3/2: I drops into a little ‘ham-and’ joint last night and tries to get a steak.
1928		J. Callahan Man’s Grim Justice 37: I would have much rather have been in the Baltimore Dairy lunch or some other ‘ham-and’ joint.

see separate entries.

(US, orig. boxing) an ordinary, run-of-the-mill person or an incompetent individual; thus a second-rate contest (see cit. 1952).

1910		Bisbee Daily Review (AZ) 20 Dec. 4/3: Knuckledusters themselves do not hang about saloons or have a bunch of ham and eggers in red sweaters and rah rah caps, flocking at their heels.
1915		El Paso Herald (TX) 12 Oct. 7/3: The ‘ham and eggers’ will not do for main bouts.
1920		A. Baer Putting ’Em Over 2 Oct. [synd. col.] Every ham and egglet in the works knows of the dirt.
1922		N-Y Tribune 22 Jan. 9/3: Most [taxi] cab drivers are on a flat salary and the ham and eggers get one-third.
1929		in B. Gelman Photoplay Treasury (1972) 127: He has made clinky the pockets of all sorts of ham-and-eggers who...[opened] schools of...elocution even though they themselves talked of ‘erl’ wells and ‘moiders’ [HDAS].
1930		R.E. Howard ‘Bull Dog Breed’ Fight Stories Feb. 🌐 Do you realize you’re askin’ me, a ordinary ham-an’-egger, to climb the original and only Tiger Valois that’s whipped everything.
1936		(ref. to 1920s) L. Duncan Over the Wall 325: No top-notcher or ham-and-egger ever took more punishment than I did that day.
1939		Howsley Argot: Dict. of Und. Sl. 23: ham and egger – a mediocre prizefighter who fights for a meal ticket.
1952		J. Jones From Here to Eternity (1998) 21: He wanted time to mature his style and season it without being overmatched in some ham and egger.
1974		G.V. Higgins Cogan’s Trade (1975) 97: Got himself this bunch of ham-and-eggers and he sends them down where he does his business.
1987		J. Ciardi Good Words 326: A ham-and-egger. A street lounger.
2000		F.X. Toole Rope Burns 9: When a fighter doesn’t get respect, say when he’s a ham-’n’-egger and someone says ‘Get a job!’ [...] dreadful things stick to him all the way to his grave.

1. (US) unskilled.

1916		T.A. Dorgan in Zwilling TAD Lex. (1993) 42: Bat Nelson was a ham and egg fighter until he licked Eddie Hanlon.
1939		C.R. Cooper Designs in Scarlet 88: Car hops, pig-joint girls, demonstrators, dance contestants, ham-and-egg entertainers, and the like.
1952		Lait & Mortimer USA Confidential 114: Reliefers of the state’s liberal ‘ham-and-eggs’ pension system were being robbed.

2. (orig. US) second-rate.

1928		J. Callahan Man’s Grim Justice 143: Billy pleaded with me to forget those ham and egg broads.
1937		C. Pifer ‘Executioner’ in All-America Sports Mag. Jan. 🌐 Trombone’s out of the ham-and-egg class now. He’s sure to be the next heavyweight champ.
1977		J. Sayles Union Dues (1978) 278: His basketball style, the triple-pump joy he brought to the ham’n’eggs pick-and-pattern dullness the coaches and fans were used to.
1979		T. Alibrandi Killshot 49: The NHA is a bunch of ham-’n’-egg players.

a restaurant.

1906

S. Ford Shorty McCabe 260: To see him jugglin’ stacks of loaded plates you’d think he’d graduated from a ham-and factory.

see separate entries.

see separate entries.

see separate entry.

(US black) a waiter.

1936

‘Hectic Harlem’ in N.Y. Amsterdam News 8 Feb, sect. 2: HAM HEAVERS. – Waiters.

1. (US black) the female legs or ankles.

1980

E. Folb Runnin’ Down Some Lines 142: Terms for legs, hocks, ham hocks [...] suggest that males appreciate ample legs and thighs on women.

2. (US) a black person.

1995

(con. 1985–90) P. Bourjois In Search of Respect 38: Big, black [...] Black Muslim ham hocks that been in the slammer twenty years.

(US black) subservient, lit. the white stereotypes of pig-eating blacks.

1967

J. Fields ‘Not Your Singing, Dancing Spade’ in King Black Short Story Anthol. (1972) 172: Dancing like some ham-hocking gig-a-boo.

a stand-up luncheon.

1890

Daily Tel. 4 Feb. n.p.: At one o’clock they relieve their exhausted frames by taking perpendicular refreshment – vulgarly termed a ham-match – at some City luncheon bar [F&H].

see separate entries.

1. (US black) a thief, a robber .

1936

D. Burley in Chicago Defender 20 June 10: 47th street ‘ham-snatchers’ tossing overcoats out of a beerflat window.

2. (US black) a looter, breaking into stores during urban riots.

1994

C. Major Juba to Jive 221: Ham-snatcher; ham-snatching n., v. (1960s–1990s) anyone who steals from stores during riots; looting.

(US black) one who robs for no more than subsistence.

a.1955

‘Good-Doing Wheeler’ in D. Wepman et al. Life (1976) 78: Now he’s known as Greasy Wheeler, the boss ham stealer, / Trying to make it the best way he can.