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Definition spam

Etymology

The original sense (canned ham) is a proprietary name registered by Geo. A. Hormel & Co. in U.S., 1937. It is presumed to be a conflation of either spiced ham or shoulder of pork and ham but was soon extended to other kinds of canned meat. Hormel spells the trademarked name in all upper case.

The use for unsolicited and unwanted email derives from a Monty Python sketch (Flying Circus, Episode 25). In the 1970 sketch, a group of Vikings in a restaurant repeatedly chant the word "spam". The earliest recorded real-life use for this sense occurs around 1993 which finds reference in an email dated March 31, 1993.

The term appears to have been used earlier in a different sense in relation to "Multi-User Dungeons" (MUDs), a kind of multi-user computer gaming environment before widespread use of the Internet, in the 1980s.

Noun

spam (countable and uncountable, plural spams)

1. (uncountable, rarely countable, computing, Internet) Unsolicited bulk electronic messages.
2. (uncountable, computing, Internet) Any undesired electronic content automatically generated for commercial purposes.
3. A type of tinned meat made mainly from ham.

Verb

spam (third-person singular simple present spams, present participle spamming, simple past and past participle spammed)

1. (intransitive, computing, Internet) To send spam (i.e. unsolicited electronic messages.)
2. (transitive, computing, Internet) To send spam (i.e. unsolicited electronic messages) to a person or entity.
3. (transitive, by extension, video games) To use (a spell or ability) rapidly and repeatedly.
4. (transitive, intransitive, computing, Internet) To post the same text repeatedly with disruptive effect; to flood.

Results 416 Words with the letters SPAM

You can also try words with the phrase SPAM, words starting with the letters SPAM, or words ending in the letters SPAM.

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