spam
/spæm/ noun, verb
Forms spams spamming spammed
- noun (uncountable, rarely countable, computing, Internet) Unsolicited bulk electronic messages. “I get far too much spam.”
- noun (uncountable, computing, Internet) Any undesired electronic content automatically generated for commercial purposes.
- noun (Internet) Excessive, often unwanted and repeated online messages.
- noun (by extension, often video games) A large quantity or multitude of anything done repetitively or considered unusually or indiscriminately repetitive.
- noun A type of tinned meat made mainly from ham.
- verb (intransitive, computing, Internet) To send spam (i.e. unsolicited electronic messages.)
- verb (transitive, computing, Internet) To send spam (i.e. unsolicited electronic messages) to a person or entity.
- verb (transitive, intransitive, computing, Internet) To send messages repeatedly, often with disruptive effect; to flood.
- verb (transitive, by extension, computing, video games) To do something rapidly and repeatedly. “Stop spamming that special attack!”
Synonyms
Antonyms
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's Flying Circus sketch. 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 a newsgroup post dated March 31, 1993, but the term may have been in use on "Multi-User Dungeons" (MUDs) in the 1980s.
Sources: Wiktionary · WordNet 3.0 — from the Wiktionary entry “spam”, CC BY-SA 4.0. Details