| Definitions | | SPAM |
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proper noun ®
- Tinned meat made mainly from ham by Hormel Foods Corporation.
Translations: - German: Spam
(trans-mid)
(trans-bottom)
Etymology: Blend of spiced and ham; the winning entry in a contest held in 1937 to rename w:Hormel, Hormel Foods' spiced ham.
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noun
- (uncountable noun) slang, term used in a negative sense designating an "unwanted, annoying, or inappropriate advertisement, or promotion."
- Could you please stop sending me these college magazines?
- (uncountable noun) A collection of unsolicited bulk electronic messages.
- I get far too much .
- (countable noun) An unsolicited electronic message sent in bulk, e.g. by email or newsgroups.
- I received 58 spams yesterday.
- (proper noun) A canned meat product made of pork and ham, first produced by Hormel Foods in 1937 in (see SPAM).
Translations: - Dutch:
- French:
- German: Spam /
- Italian:
verb (spam, m, ing)
- (intransitive): To send spam (i.e. unsolicited electronic messages.)
- (transitive): To send spam (i.e. unsolicited electronic messages) to a person or entity.
Translations: 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 spiced ham but was soon extended to other kinds of canned meat.The use for unsolicited and unwanted email derives from a w:Monty Python, Monty Python sketch (http://us.imdb.com/title/tt0650991/ Flying Circus, Episode 25). In the 1970 sketch, a restaurant's menu has many items with spam, and it includes Vikings who would not stop singing the word. See Spam. The earliest recorded real-life use for this sense occurs around 1993 (e.g. see this link:[http://www.templetons.com/brad/spamterm.html which finds reference in an email - at http://groups.google.com/group/alt.folklore.computers/browse_frm/thread/3f760db408bb109c/dc98a1f9c6a59477?hl=en&lr=lang_en&rnum=1&prev=/groups3Fhl3Den26lr3Dlang_en26selm3D1993Mar31.192731.31672540mnemosyne.cs.du.edudc98a1f9c6a59477 - dated March 31 1993)The term appears to have been used earlier in a different sense in relation to "Multi-User Dungeons" (MUDs), a form of multi-user computer environnment before widespread use of the Internet, in the 1980's. See http://www.templetons.com/brad/spamterm.html for details.As of late, the term spam has begun to take on a new meaning and has entered the American lexicon, with it being used to denote not only electronic, but also other variations of advertisements seen as being annoying or inappropriate.
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