The Collaborative International Dictionary
Sham \Sham\, v. t. [imp. & p. p. Shammed; p. pr. & vb. n. Shamming.]
-
To trick; to cheat; to deceive or delude with false pretenses.
Fooled and shammed into a conviction.
--L'Estrange. -
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. -
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.
Abraham-man \A"bra*ham-man`\or Abram-man \A"bram-man`\, n.
[Possibly in allusion to the parable of the beggar Lazarus in
Luke xvi.
--Murray (New Eng. Dict. ).]
One of a set of vagabonds who formerly roamed through
England, feigning lunacy for the sake of obtaining alms.
--Nares.
To sham Abraham, to feign sickness.
--Goldsmith.