Wiktionary

wham

English

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WOTD – 6 December 2024

Etymology

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Onomatopoeic,[1][2] representing the sound of an object being slammed against something.

Pronunciation

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Noun

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wham (plural whams)

  1. A forceful blow.
    Roger was given a violent wham by his boxing opponent.
    • 1957, John Wyndham [pseudonym; John Wyndham Parkes Lucas Beynon Harris], “Operation Midwich”, in The Midwich Cuckoos, New York, N.Y.: Ballantine Books, published June 1972, →OCLC, page 36:
      Might be a good idea to have a wham at it, anyway. Stop it getting away. Knock it out so that we can have a proper look at it.
  2. The sound of such a blow; a thud.
    We heard a wham as the hammer struck the wall.
  3. (figurative)
    1. An attempt.
    2. A great success.

Derived terms

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Translations

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Interjection

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wham

  1. Used to indicate the sound of a forceful blow, an explosion, etc.
    Wham! The truck hit the wall.
    • 1925, Ernest Hemingway, “The Battler”, in In Our Time: Stories, New York, N.Y.: Boni & Liveright, →OCLC, page 65:
      "Come here, kid, I got something for you." Then wham and he lit on his hands and knees beside the track. Nick rubbed his eye. There was a big bump coming up.
    • 1924, Ernest Hemingway, chapter IX, in In Our Time: Stories, New York, N.Y.: Boni & Liveright, published 1925, →OCLC, page 107:
      The second matador slipped, and the bull caught him through the belly and he hung onto the horn with one hand and held the other right against the place, and the bull rammed him wham against the barrier and the horn came out, and he lay in the sand, and then got up like crazy drunk and tried to slug the men carrying him away and yelled for his sword, but he fainted.
    • 1950 July 22, Ferguson Findley [pseudonym; Charles Weiser Frey], “Waterfront [Chapter I]”, in Louis Ruppel, editor, Collier’s, volume 136, number 4, Springfield, Oh.: Crowell-Collier Publishing Company, →ISSN, →OCLC, page 16, column 1; republished New York, N.Y.: Duell, Sloan and Pearce, 1951, →OCLC, page 1:
      I was off duty, minding my own business, walking across the Avenue of the Americas at Forty-fifth Street on my way to Charlie Rothstein's when I heard a gun go off. Wham! it roared, not more than twenty feet from me, and then, in quick succession, wham—wham!
  2. Used to indicate something dramatic, sudden, and unanticipated has occurred.
    Our relationship was going smoothly and then wham! Out of nowhere he told me he was leaving me for another woman.
    • 1952 September 22, “Editorial: Since Stevenson [i.e., Adlai Stevenson II] Prefers ‘Compromise’, Foreign Policy is Squarely in the Campaign”, in Henry R[obinson] Luce, editor, Life, volume 33, number 12, Chicago, Ill.; New York, N.Y.: Time Inc., →ISSN, →OCLC, page 30, column 1:
      Wham! Overnight he [Dwight D. Eisenhower] became a warmonger.
    • 2008 August, Douglas Coupland, “40 on the Outside, 30 on the Inside: My Theory of How Men Really Age”, in Stephen Perrine, editor, Best Life, volume V, number 6, Emmaus, Pa.: Rodale, Inc., →ISSN, →OCLC, page 77, column 1:
      In myself I've come to notice that aging comes in spurts. […] I'll look the exact same way for a decade, and then—wham!—God hits the progeria switch and for two years the downhill plunge begins anew. And then it stops again.

Derived terms

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Translations

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Verb

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wham (third-person singular simple present whams, present participle whamming, simple past and past participle whammed) (informal)

  1. (transitive)
    1. To smash or strike (someone or something) with great force or impact; to slam, to whack.
      • 1994 October, Harry Hay, “Focussing On NAMBLA Obscures the Issues: Our Beloved Gay/Lesbian Movement at a Crossroads”, in Marla Erlien, Stephanie Poggi, editors, Gay Community News, volume 20, number 3, Boston, Mass.: GCN, →ISSN, →OCLC, page 16:
        My Wobblie worker buddies taught me to wham anybody who bothered me hard and fast in the crotch with my knee or my elbow.
      • 2011, William Lynwood Montell, “Disciplining Students”, in Tales from Kentucky One-room School Teachers, Lexington, Ky.: University Press of Kentucky, →ISBN, page 136:
        I picked one of the logs up and just whammed him over the shoulder as hard as I could. Then I said to him, "I want to tell you something. If you want to come up here to school and behave, I want to see you back; otherwise, I don't want you on this school ground."
    2. To propel (something) with great force by kicking, striking, throwing, etc.
      • 1966 January, Wesley S. Griswold, “Can You Invent a Million-dollar Fad?”, in Ernest V. Heyn, editor, The Popular Science Monthly, volume 188, number 1, New York, N.Y.: Popular Science Publishing Company, →ISSN, →OCLC, page 80, column 2:
        Though you may never have heard of Wham-O before, you doubtless are already acquainted with Super Ball, their latest sensation. It's about the size of a handball, and has such extraordinary bounce that it makes every other ball seem tired. […] Kids from seven to 70 can be seen dribbling it or whamming it over the rooftops almost anywhere you go these days.
  2. (intransitive)
    1. To smash or strike with great force or impact.
      • 2009, Ted Staunton, “No-hands”, in Daredevil Morgan (First Novels), Halifax, N.S.: Formac Publishing Company, →ISBN, page 8:
        She takes her foot off the skateboard. It keeps going without her and whams into the garage door.
    2. To move quickly or loudly.

Derived terms

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Translations

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References

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  1. ^ “wham, n.2”, in OED Online  ⁠, Oxford: Oxford University Press, March 2024; “wham, excl.”, in Lexico, Dictionary.com; Oxford University Press, 2019–2022.
  2. ^ “wham, v.”, in OED Online  ⁠, Oxford: Oxford University Press, July 2023; “wham, v.”, in Lexico, Dictionary.com; Oxford University Press, 2019–2022.

Anagrams

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Middle English

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Pronoun

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wham

  1. Alternative form of whom (“who, whom”, accusative)

Scots

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Pronoun

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wham

  1. whom
    Scots, wham Bruce has aften led.
    Scots, whom Bruce has often led.
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