Etymology 1

Noun

1. A collective noun used to refer to a group of whales; a pod.
   • 1862, Henry Theodore Cheever, The Whalemen's Adventures in the Southern Ocean, Darton & Hodge, page 116.

     Upon getting into a "gam" of whales, this boat, together with that of one of the mates, pulled for a single whale that was seen at a distance from the others, and succeeded in getting square up to their victim unperceived.

2. A social gathering of whalers or other ships.
   • 1851, Herman Melville, Moby-Dick; or, The Whale, Harper and Brothers, chapter 53.

     But what is a Gam? You might wear out your index-finger running up and down the columns of dictionaries, and never find the word, Dr. Johnson never attained to that erudition; Noah Webster’s ark does not hold it. Nevertheless, this same expressive word has now for many years been in constant use among some fifteen thousand true born Yankees. Certainly, it needs a definition, and should be incorporated into the Lexicon. With that view, let me learnedly define it. Gam. NOUN—A social meeting of two (or more) Whaleships, generally on a cruising-ground; when, after exchanging hails, they exchange visits by boats’ crews, the two captains remaining, for the time, on board of one ship, and the two chief mates on the other.

Verb

1. To make a social visit on another ship at sea.

Noun

1. A silly, foolish person.

Pronoun

1. me

   A bheil thu gam chluinntinn? - Do you hear me?

2. them

   Cha robh i gam faicinn. - She didn't see them.

Usage notes

• As me lenites the following word.
• As them used before words beginning with b, f, m or p; otherwise gan is used.

Related terms

• ga
• gad
• gan
• gar
• gur
• iad
• mi

Noun

1. a vulture or condor; scavenging birds living in Africa, Europe, Asia and America
2. someone who takes advantage of a demise or a bankruptcy, usually in a legal, but, for the affected people, offensive way

   Innan konkurshandlingarna ens var undertecknade samlades gamarna i verkstaden för att se vad som var värt att sälja vidare