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But what is a gam? You might wear out your index-finger running up and down the columns of dictionaries, and never find the word. So says the narrator, who calls himself Ishmael, of Herman Melville’s Moby Dick. These days you will indeed find "gam" entered in dictionaries; Merriam-Webster’s Collegiate Dictionary defines the noun "gam" as "a visit or friendly conversation at sea or ashore especially between whalers." (It can also mean "a school of whales.") Melville’s narrator explains that when whaling ships met far out at sea, they would hail one another and the crews would exchange visits and news. English speakers have been using the word gam to refer to these and similar social exchanges since the mid-19th century.
Examples of gam in a Sentence
Wendy Altschuler, Forbes, 6 Sep. 2024
But the real question for most men — regardless of their stance on the shorts length debate — is how to style summer shorts to look on-trend, flatter their form, and feel comfortable and confident while showing off those gams.
—Adam Mansuroglu, WWD, 22 July 2024
The commissioner said monitoring of various betting activities helped the league detect several incidents this year involving people prohibited from being associated with the gam.
—Bruce Haring, Deadline, 12 July 2024
End of carousel How else to account for the will and the grit to fight through the effects of a car accident that resulted in a compound fracture of one of those glorious gams?
—Peter Marks, Washington Post, 31 Jan. 2024
The high-low style shows off your gorgeous gams and the off-the-shoulder silhouette gives this dress serious evening elegance.
—Alesandra Dubin, Woman's Day, 1 Apr. 2023
Jason Anderson, Sacramento Bee, 13 July 2024
Dictionary Entries Near gam
Cite this Entry
“Gam.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/gam. Accessed 22 Nov. 2024.
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