sham

Definitions

1. 1.A false front, or removable ornamental covering. Pillow sham, a covering to be laid on a pillow.
2. 2.False; counterfeit; pretended; feigned; unreal; as, a sham fight. They scorned the sham independence proffered to them by the Athenians. Jowett (Thucyd)
3. 3.To trick; to cheat; to deceive or delude with false pretenses. Fooled and shammed into a conviction. L'Estrange.
4. 4.To obtrude by fraud or imposition. [R.] We must have a care that we do not . . . sham fallacies upon the world for current reason. L'Estrange.
5. 5.To assume the manner and character of; to imitate; to ape; to feign. To sham Abram or Abraham, to feign sickness; to malinger. Hence a malingerer is called, in sailors' cant, Sham Abram, or Sham Abraham.
6. 6.To make false pretenses; to deceive; to feign; to impose. Wondering . . . whether those who lectured him were such fools as they professed to be, or were only shamming. Macaulay.

Source: Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913 edition (public domain, via GCIDE / Project Gutenberg).

Related questions

• What does "sham" mean?

Reverse-dictionary questions

Definition-first questions whose answer is sham.

• What is a false front, or removable ornamental covering. Pillow sham, a covering to be laid on a pillow called?
• What is false; counterfeit; pretended; feigned; unreal; as, a sham fight. They scorned the sham independence proffered to them by the Athenians. Jowett (Thucyd) called?
• What is to trick; to cheat; to deceive or delude with false pretenses. Fooled and shammed into a conviction. L'Estrange called?
• What is to obtrude by fraud or imposition. [R.] We must have a care that we do not . . . sham fallacies upon the world for current reason. L'Estrange called?
• What is to make false pretenses; to deceive; to feign; to impose. Wondering . . . whether those who lectured him were such fools as they professed to be, or were only shamming. Macaulay called?