Dictionary

ham sandwich en · NOUN

Pronunciation

• (US) audio

Meanings

1. (countable, rare, uncountable, usually) A sandwich made with ham.
   • “Hell, that’s practically the Stone Age,” Applegate commented with a laugh, then crammed the last piece of ham sandwich into his mouth and chewed contemplatively before adding, “I can promise you what we have in store will knock your socks off.” 1994, David Alexander, Bandit, New York, N.Y.: Avon Books, →ISBN, page 41:
   • Muttsen looked at Eva and Eva looked at Muttsen—and Eva did not cry out, Eva slept gently—Eva ate a little sausage—a piece of ham sandwich, for her supper—Eva ate it all up; […] 1919, H. von Hug-Hellmuth, translated by James J[ackson] Putnam and Mabel Stevens, A Study of the Mental Life of the Child (Nervous and Mental Disease Monograph Series; 29), Washington, D.C.: Nervous and Mental Disease Publishing Company, page 143:
   • Maybelline tore off another piece of ham sandwich and fed it to me. 2015, Spencer Quinn [pseudonym; Peter Abrahams], Woof (a Bowser and Birdie novel), New York, N.Y.: Scholastic Inc., published 2016, →ISBN, page 179:
2. (US, countable, figuratively, usually) Something utterly commonplace, of modest value.
   • but did you ever hear of a young man, who becomes a millionaire in the approved style, starting life on a farm, studying by the light of a tallow dip, and coming to the city with forty-five cents and a ham sandwich 1900, Charles A. Conant, “The Financial Future of the United States”, in The Bankers magazine, volume 61, page 603:
   • It's sports-car fast, has a big leather-trimmed interior, and costs as much as a ham sandwich. 2009 June, Ezra Dyer, “The Car That Should Save GM”, in Esquire, volume 151, number 6, page 28:
   • But regardless of how enamored you may be of Green's manner and his potential, it has to come as a shock to you that he's the starter. A month ago you could have had him for a ham sandwich 1998 September 15, Tony Kornheiser, “Up for the Game, Down for the Count”, in Washington Post:
3. (countable, slang, usually, vulgar) A vulva.

Forms

Deriveds

indict a ham sandwich · hamwich · ham sandwich theorem

Translations (4)

es pan con jamón (sandwich made with ham) · fi kinkkuvoileipä (sandwich made with ham) · de Schinkenbrot (sandwich made with ham) · pt sanduíche de presunto (sandwich made with ham)