sam

noun, verb, adv and 1 more — 10 senses

Sam

nounalso spelled Sam

UK, US /ˈsæm/ · AU /ˈsæːm/

1

UK, Informal Synonym of Dicky Sam (“a man from Liverpool”)

Derived terms
Silent Sam
Related terms
Sammy, Sam Sawet

sam

verb

/sæm/

Etymology From Middle English sammen, samnen, from Old English samnian, ġesamnian (“to collect, assemble, bring together, gather, join, unite, compose, meet, glean”), from Proto-West Germanic *samnōn, from Proto-Germanic *samnōną (“to gather”), from Proto-Indo-European *sem- (“one”). Cognate with Dutch zamelen (“to collect”), German sammeln (“to collect, gather”), Swedish samla (“to gather, collect”), Icelandic samna (“to gather, collect”). More at same.

1

UK, Dialectal To assemble.

2

UK, Dialectal, Of persons To bring together; join (in marriage, friendship, love, etc.).

3

UK, Dialectal, Of things To bring together; collect; put in order; arrange.

  • I sammed it up for ye1905, Keighley Snowden, Princess Joyce:
4

UK, Dialectal To assemble; come together.

5

UK, Dialectal To coagulate; curdle (milk).

Derived terms
stand sam, upon my sam

sam

adv

Etymology From Middle English sām (“together”), from Old English samen (“together”), from Proto-West Germanic *saman, from Proto-Germanic *samanai (“together”), from Proto-Indo-European *sem- (“together, one”).

1

Obsolete Together

  • Now are they saints all in that city sam.1590, Edmund Spenser, “(please specify the book)”, in The Faerie Queene. […], London: […] [John Wolfe] for William Ponsonbie, →OCLC:
  • All Sam the souldiers then replied.a. 1600, The Battle of Floddon Field:

sam

adj

Etymology From Middle English sam- (prefix), from Old English sam-, from Proto-Germanic *sēmi- (“half”), from Proto-Indo-European *sēmi- (“half”). Related to semi- (via Latin).

1

Dialectal Half or imperfectly done.

2

Of food Half-heated.

Related terms
sammy, sandblind

sam

noun

Etymology Possibly from Uncle Sam.

1

Slang Federal narcotics agent.

Entry derived from the Wiktionary, under licence CC BY-SA 4.0 — authors: page histories for Sam and sam.