hambone

English

Alternative forms

• ham-bone

Etymology

From ham +‎ bone.

Pronunciation

• Audio (Australia):

  (file)

Noun

hambone (plural hambones)

1. The bone at the center of a ham
   • 2009 February 22, J. David Goodman, “The Night of the Foot”, in The New York Times‎^[1], New York, N.Y.: The New York Times Company, →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the original on 26 November 2022:

     Perhaps I was afraid of being laughed at if the mysterious item turned out to be a hambone, a distinct possibility.

2. (US slang, acting) A ham; an eager or inferior performer
   • 1946, Radio Alphabet: A Glossary of Radio Terms, Hastings House, page 38:

     HAMBONE — An unconvincing blackface dialectician.

   • 2009 February 15, Rob Salem, “When comedy geniuses unite”, in Toronto Star‎^[2], archived from the original on 18 February 2009:

     Ferrell is the ubiquitous hambone, an affably oblivious man-child prone to shirtless prancing onscreen.

3. (music, dance) A certain type of dance that involves making noise with the body, especially by slapping parts of the body with one's hands
4. (bowling, informal) Four consecutive strikes.

Synonyms

• (type of dance): Juba dance
• (inferior performer): ham, hamfatter, overactor, tear-cat

See also

• Juba dance on Wikipedia.Wikipedia

Verb

hambone (third-person singular simple present hambones, present participle hamboning, simple past and past participle hamboned)

1. (intransitive) To dance the hambone.
   • 2010 July 26, Pendleton Ward & Tom Herpich, “Freak City” (0:33 from the start), in Adventure Time‎^[3], season 1, episode 20, spoken by Finn the Human (Jeremy Shada):

     “Walking, walking, walking -- Hambone break!”

   • 2010 July 29, Lewis Morton, “The Late Philip J. Fry” (1:02 from the start), in Futurama‎^[4], season 6, episode 7, spoken by Bender (John DiMaggio):

     “♪ Hambone, hambone! ♪ Hambone. Okay, hambone break's over. Back to the bedroom!” (motor whirring) “♪ Hambone, hambone! ♪ Hambone ♪”