English Explanatory Dictionary

spam

English dictionary entry

Meanings

noun
  1. Unsolicited bulk electronic messages.
  2. Any undesired electronic content automatically generated for commercial purposes.
  3. Excessive, often unwanted and repeated online messages.
  4. Ellipsis of spam account.
  5. A large quantity or multitude of anything done repetitively or considered unusually or indiscriminately repetitive.
  6. A type of tinned meat made mainly from ham.
verb
  1. To send spam (i.e. unsolicited electronic messages.)
  2. To send spam (i.e. unsolicited electronic messages) to a person or entity.
  3. To send messages repeatedly, often with disruptive effect; to flood.
  4. To do something rapidly and repeatedly.
name
  1. Alternative form of spam (“tinned meat product”).
name
  1. Alternative form of spam (tinned meat product)

Pronunciation

/ˈspæm/ LL-Q1860 (eng)-Vealhurl-spam.wav [ˈspeəm] LL-Q1860 (eng)-Flame, not lame-Spam.wav

Word forms

spam spams spamming spammed

Etymology

The original sense (canned ham) is a proprietary name registered by Geo. A. Hormel & Co. in U.S., 1937. It is presumed to be a conflation of either "spiced ham" or "shoulder of pork and ham" but was soon extended to other kinds of canned meat. Hormel spells the trademarked name in all upper case. The use for unsolicited and unwanted email derives from a Monty Python's Flying Circus sketch. In the 1970 sketch, a group of Vikings in a restaurant repeatedly chant the word "spam". The earliest recorded real-life use for this sense occurs around 1993 which finds reference in a newsgroup post dated March 31, 1993, but the term may have been in use on "Multi-User Dungeons" (MUDs) in the 1980s.

Synonyms

junk mail

Antonyms

ham

Related words

Official SPAM home page

Derived words

antispam antispammer blam despam ghost spam hailstorm spam nonspam picspam referral spam snowshoe spam spamblock spamblog spambot spamdexing spamference spamfic spam in a can spamless spamlike spammage spammation spammer spamming spammish spammy spamouflage spamproof spamsilog spamtard spamtrap spamvertise spamvertisement spamvertiser spamvertising spamvertizement spamwich spim sping splog spoetry sporgery unspam webspam spammable unspammable unspammed

Translations

Bulgarian: спамя Czech: spamovat Esperanto: rubleteri Estonian: spämmima Faroese: spamma Finnish: roskapostittaa Finnish: spämmätä French: spammer French: pourrieller German: spammen Interlingua: spammar Italian: spammare Māori: hītini Norwegian: sende søppelpost Portuguese: spamear Portuguese: spammar Russian: спа́мить Spanish: spamear Swedish: spamma Turkish: spamlemek
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