hambone

The bone at the center of a ham

Noun

  1. The bone at the center of a ham
    • Perhaps I was afraid of being laughed at if the mysterious item turned out to be a hambone, a distinct possibility. - 2009 February 22, J. David Goodman, “The Night of the Foot”, in New York Times:
  2. A ham; an eager or inferior performer
    • HAMBONE — An unconvincing blackface dialectician. - 1946, Radio Alphabet: A Glossary of Radio Terms, Hastings House, page 38:
    • Ferrell is the ubiquitous hambone, an affably oblivious man-child prone to shirtless prancing onscreen. - 2009 February 15, Rob Salem, “When comedy geniuses unite”, in Toronto Star:
  3. A certain type of dance that involves making noise with the body, especially by slapping parts of the body with one's hands
  4. Four consecutive strikes.

Origin

From ham + bone.

Forms

hambones ham-bone

Synonyms

Juba dance ham hamfatter overactor tear-cat

Verb

  1. To dance the hambone.
    • “Walking, walking, walking -- Hambone break!” - 2010 July 26, Pendleton Ward & Tom Herpich, “Freak City” (0:33 from the start), in Adventure Time, season 1, episode 20, spoken by Finn the Human (Jeremy Shada):
    • “♪ Hambone, hambone! ♪ Hambone. Okay, hambone break's over. Back to the bedroom!” (motor whirring) “♪ Hambone, hambone! ♪ Hambone ♪” - 2010 July 29, Lewis Morton, “The Late Philip J. Fry” (1:02 from the start), in...

Forms

hambones hamboning hamboned ham-bone