spam en · NOUN
Pronunciation
- /spæːm/ (Australia)
- (Southern-England) audio
- /spæm/ (Received-Pronunciation)
- /spɛm/ (New-Zealand)
- [speəm] General American, æ-raising
- /spam/ (British, Northern-England, Scotland, Southern, Standard, Wales)
- /spæm/ General American, æ-raising
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.
Meanings
-
(Internet, countable, rare, uncountable) Unsolicited bulk electronic messages.
I received 58 spams yesterday.
I get far too much spam.
In America alone, people spent $170 billion on “direct marketing”—junk mail of both the physical and electronic varieties—last year. Yet of those who received unsolicited adverts through the post, only 3% bought anything as a result. If the bumf arrived electronically, the take-up rate was 0.1%. And for online adverts the “conversion” into sales was a minuscule 0.01%. That means about $165 billion was spent not on drumming up business, but on annoying people, creating landfill and cluttering spam filters.
2013 May 25, “No hiding place”, in The Economist, volume 407, number 8837, page 74:
-
(Internet, uncountable) Any undesired electronic content automatically generated for commercial purposes.
An Act to provide for the control of spam, which is unsolicited commercial communications sent in bulk by electronic mail or by text or multi-media messaging to mobile telephone numbers, and to provide for matters connected therewith.
Long title, Spam Control Act (Cap. 311A, R. Ed. 2008)
- (Internet, countable, uncountable) Excessive, often unwanted and repeated online messages.
-
(Internet, abbreviation, alt-of, countable, ellipsis, uncountable) Ellipsis of spam account.
alt of spam account
- (broadly, countable, often, uncountable) A large quantity or multitude of anything done repetitively or considered unusually or indiscriminately repetitive.
- (countable, uncountable) A type of tinned meat made mainly from ham.
Forms
| Spelling | Features | Labels | Source |
|---|---|---|---|
| spams | Number=Plur | lexicographic | |
| Spam | alternative | lexicographic | |
| SPAM | alternative | lexicographic |
Antonyms
Coordinates
Deriveds
spamblock · spamvertizement · spammish · spim · spamproof · sporgery · spam in a can · antispam · spamtrap · spamming · spammage · spamtard · despam · spammer · splog · spamlike · referral spam · spamvertising · spambot · spamvertiser · spamdexing · antispammer · spamblog · spamwich · snowshoe spam · blam · spamference · picspam · spamvertisement · hailstorm spam · spamfic · spamless · spamvertise · ghost spam · nonspam · spammation · spamouflage · webspam · unspam · spoetry · sping · spammy · spamsilog
Hyponyms
link spam · spam musubi · spam relay · blogspam · referrer spam · social spam · mass spam · spam killer · log spam
Meronyms
Synonyms
Translations (89)
de Frühstücksfleisch (tinned meat) · sv spam (unsolicited bulk electronic messages) · nv atsįʼ béé átʼáhí (tinned meat) · io mesajacho (unsolicited bulk electronic messages) · hy լցոն (unsolicited bulk electronic messages) · pl konserwa turystyczna (tinned meat) · es correo basura (unsolicited bulk electronic messages) · ko 스팸 (tinned meat) · cmn 垃圾郵件 /垃圾邮件 (unsolicited bulk electronic messages) · ja スパム (tinned meat) · es spam (tinned meat) · ar سُخَام (unsolicited bulk electronic messages) · es carne enlatada (tinned meat) · ja バルクメール (unsolicited bulk electronic messages) · cmn 午餐肉 (tinned meat) · pt spam (unsolicited bulk electronic messages) · de Spam (unsolicited bulk electronic messages) · es spam (unsolicited bulk electronic messages) · ko 정크 메일 (unsolicited bulk electronic messages) · fi spämmi (undesired electronic content) · fr pollupostage (unsolicited bulk electronic messages) · ru нежела́тельная по́чта (unsolicited bulk electronic messages) · bg русенско варено (tinned meat) · lv mēstule (unsolicited bulk electronic messages) · ga turscar (unsolicited bulk electronic messages) · hi स्पैम (unsolicited bulk electronic messages) · he ספאם (unsolicited bulk electronic messages) · ko 스팸 (unsolicited bulk electronic messages) · nl ongewenste mail (unsolicited bulk electronic messages) · fi nötkötti (tinned meat) · mr स्पॅम (unsolicited bulk electronic messages) · et spämm (unsolicited bulk electronic messages) · nv atsįʼ yikʼáni (tinned meat) · cmn 垃圾信 (unsolicited bulk electronic messages) · eo spamo (unsolicited bulk electronic messages) · mr स्पॅम (tinned meat) · ka სპამი (unsolicited bulk electronic messages) · sv skräppost (unsolicited bulk electronic messages) · hu szpem (unsolicited bulk electronic messages) · mk спам (unsolicited bulk electronic messages) · bg спам (unsolicited bulk electronic messages) · ar بَيَانٌ مُزْعِج (unsolicited bulk electronic messages) · ru спам (unsolicited bulk electronic messages) · ja スパム (unsolicited bulk electronic messages) · yi ספּאַמפֿלייש (tinned meat) · fr spam (unsolicited bulk electronic messages) · tr yığın mesaj (unsolicited bulk electronic messages) · es carne de almuerzo (tinned meat) · eo trudaĵo (unsolicited bulk electronic messages) · nv Bilagáana bikʼos (tinned meat) · lt šlamštas (unsolicited bulk electronic messages) · hy սպամ (unsolicited bulk electronic messages) · es correo no deseado (unsolicited bulk electronic messages) · fi spämmi (unsolicited bulk electronic messages) · fr pourriel (unsolicited bulk electronic messages) · it spam (unsolicited bulk electronic messages) · ko 스팸 메일 (unsolicited bulk electronic messages) · ja ジャンクメール (unsolicited bulk electronic messages) · ja スパムメール (unsolicited bulk electronic messages) · is ruslpóstur (unsolicited bulk electronic messages) · fi roskaposti (undesired electronic content) · nl ongewenste elektronische post (unsolicited bulk electronic messages) · no søppelpost (unsolicited bulk electronic messages) · ca contingut brossa (undesired electronic content) · fo spamm (unsolicited bulk electronic messages) · nl spamboodschap (unsolicited bulk electronic messages) · nl spam (unsolicited bulk electronic messages) · ia spam (unsolicited bulk electronic messages) · sl neželena e-pošta (unsolicited bulk electronic messages) · vi thư rác (unsolicited bulk electronic messages) · fr courriel indésirable (unsolicited bulk electronic messages) · ru тушёнка (tinned meat) · he לוּף (tinned meat) · cs spam (unsolicited bulk electronic messages) · ca correu brossa (unsolicited bulk electronic messages) · he דואר זבל (unsolicited bulk electronic messages) · es spam (undesired electronic content) · lt brukalas (unsolicited bulk electronic messages) · pl spam (unsolicited bulk electronic messages) · pl mielonka (tinned meat) · ja 迷惑メール (unsolicited bulk electronic messages) · pt lixo eletrônico (unsolicited bulk electronic messages) · sh neželjena pošta (unsolicited bulk electronic messages) · th สแปม (unsolicited bulk electronic messages) · sl vsiljena pošta (unsolicited bulk electronic messages) · fi roskaposti (unsolicited bulk electronic messages) · yi בליצמיסט (unsolicited bulk electronic messages) · tr spam (unsolicited bulk electronic messages) · da spam (unsolicited bulk electronic messages)
wikidata: Q606132 · wikipedia: Monty Python's Flying Circus · wikidata: Q13512320