sammy, v. — Green’s Dictionary of Slang

sammy v.

[? Hind. Sami (???) 1) To come or meet together, be united or joined with. 2) To go or come to, arrive at, approach, reach, visit, attain. 3) To encounter, meet in a hostile manner. 4) To cohabit, have sexual intercourse]

1. (Anglo-Ind.) of men, to show off in the hope of charming/attracting women.

1861

Hills & Plains I 225: ‘Women are all devilish well, [...] but as for “sammying” and “peacocking” about them from morning till night, thinking you are doing the devil and all, when they are laughing at you the whole time — oh, no, none for me, thank you’ [ibid.] 227: Budlee [...] was as well received as other men of his class, who devoted themselves to ‘sammying’. He became a lady’s man very fast.

2. in a non-sexual sense, to toady to, to ‘butter up’.

1879

A.G. Bagot Sporting Sketches 31: [speaker is a ‘Kentucky Colonel’] ‘He’s off to his own squatting next week, and yew don’t catch me sammying round another toad-eater this fall yew bet’.

3. (UK milit.) to clean one’s equipment (? a ref., to a group of privates doing so together or preparing oneself for sense 1).

1896

‘Army Slang’ in Regiment 11 Apr. 31/2: [A] man cleaning his equipments [sic] is said to be ‘Sammying,’ ‘pummying’ or ‘Soldiering’.