Hypertext Webster Gateway: "sham"
From Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913) (web1913)
Sham \Sham\, a.
False; counterfeit; pretended; feigned; unreal; as, a sham
fight.
They scorned the sham independence proffered to them by
the Athenians. --Jowett
(Thucyd)
From Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913) (web1913)
Sham \Sham\, v. t. [imp. & p. p. {Shammed}; p. pr. & vb. n.
{Shamming}.]
1. To trick; to cheat; to deceive or delude with false
pretenses.
Fooled and shammed into a conviction. --L'Estrange.
2. 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.
3. 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.
From Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913) (web1913)
Sham \Sham\, v. i.
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.
From Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913) (web1913)
Sham \Sham\, n. [Originally the same word as shame, hence, a
disgrace, a trick. See {Shame}, n.]
1. That which deceives expectation; any trick, fraud, or
device that deludes and disappoint; a make-believe;
delusion; imposture, humbug. ``A mere sham.'' --Bp.
Stillingfleet.
Believe who will the solemn sham, not I. --Addison.
2. A false front, or removable ornamental covering.
{Pillow sham}, a covering to be laid on a pillow.
From WordNet (r) 1.7 (wn)
sham
adj : adopted in order to deceive; "an assumed name"; "an assumed
cheerfulness"; "a fictitious address"; "fictive
sympathy"; "a pretended interest"; "a put-on childish
voice"; "sham modesty" [syn: {assumed}, {false}, {fictitious},
{fictive}, {pretended}, {put on}]
n 1: something that is a counterfeit; not what it seems to be
[syn: {fake}, {postiche}]
2: a person who makes deceitful pretenses [syn: {imposter}, {impostor},
{pretender}, {fake}, {faker}, {fraud}, {shammer}, {pseudo},
{pseud}, {role player}]
v 1: make a pretence of; "She assumed indifference, even though
she was seething with anger"; "he feigned sleep" [syn: {simulate},
{assume}, {feign}]
2: make believe; "He feigned that he was ill"; "He shammed a
headache" [syn: {feign}, {pretend}, {affect}, {dissemble}]
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