What is "shamming"

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 To sham Abraham, to feign sickness; to malinger. Hence a malingerer is called, in sailors' cant, Sham Abram, or Sham Abraham.

vb. (present participle of sham English)

1. 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]

2. [also: shamming, shammed]

1. n. 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]

3. [also: shamming, shammed]

1. v. make a pretence of; "She assumed indifference, even though she was seething with anger"; "he feigned sleep" [syn: simulate, assume, feign]

2. make believe with the intent to deceive; "He feigned that he was ill"; "He shammed a headache" [syn: feign, pretend, affect, dissemble]

3. [also: shamming, shammed]

See sham