flam
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English
Pronunciation
- IPA(key): /flæm/
Audio (Southern England): (file) - Rhymes: -æm
Etymology 1
17th century; from flim-flam,[1] itself perhaps from a dialectal word or Scandinavian; compare Old Norse flim (“lampoon, mockery”).[2]
Noun
flam (countable and uncountable, plural flams)
- A freak or whim; an idle fancy.
- (archaic) A falsehood; a lie; an illusory pretext
- 1692, Robert South, "A Further Account of the Nature and Measures of Conscience", in Forty Eight Sermons and Discourses on Several Subjects and Occasions (published 1697)
- all Pretences, or Pleas of Conscience, to the contrary, are nothing but Cant and Cheat, Flam and Delusion.
- 1692–1717, Robert South, Twelve Sermons Preached upon Several Occasions, volume (please specify |volume=I to VI), London:
- a perpetual abuse and flam upon posterity
- 1692, Robert South, "A Further Account of the Nature and Measures of Conscience", in Forty Eight Sermons and Discourses on Several Subjects and Occasions (published 1697)
Translations
an illusory pretext; deception; delusion
Verb
flam (third-person singular simple present flams, present participle flamming, simple past and past participle flammed)
- (obsolete) To deceive with a falsehood.
- 1692–1717, Robert South, Twelve Sermons Preached upon Several Occasions, volume (please specify |volume=I to VI), London:
- God is not to be flammed off with Lyes.
Translations
Etymology 2
Imitative.
Noun
flam (plural flams)
- (drumming) Two taps (a grace note followed by a full-volume tap) played very close together in order to sound like one slightly longer note.
Derived terms
Translations
Verb
flam (third-person singular simple present flams, present participle flamming, simple past and past participle flammed)
- (drumming, transitive, intransitive) To play (notes as) a flam.
- 1923, Edward B. Straight, The Straight System of Modern Drumming: The "Natural Way" to Play Drums, page 10:
- We will commence to flam the notes now, as most of them are flammed when you play a March.
- 1975, George Shipway, Free Lance, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt P, →ISBN:
- Drums ruffled and flammed.
References
- ^ Flimflam / Claptrap, The Word Detective, 2009–04–13
- ^ Douglas Harper (2001–2024) “flam”, in Online Etymology Dictionary.
Anagrams
Catalan
Etymology
Borrowed from French flan, from Old French flaon. Doublet of flaó.
Pronunciation
Noun
flam m (plural flams)
- flan (custard dessert)
Further reading
- “flam” in Diccionari de la llengua catalana, segona edició, Institut d’Estudis Catalans.
- “flam”, in Gran Diccionari de la Llengua Catalana, Grup Enciclopèdia Catalana, 2024
- “flam” in Diccionari normatiu valencià, Acadèmia Valenciana de la Llengua.
- “flam” in Diccionari català-valencià-balear, Antoni Maria Alcover and Francesc de Borja Moll, 1962.
Volapük
Noun
flam (nominative plural flams)