hambone

American  

[ham-bohn] / ˈhæmˌboʊn /

noun

1. Theater.

   1. (especially in minstrel shows and vaudeville) a performer made up in blackface and using a stereotyped Black dialect.

   2. an unskilled, overeager, or artless actor, or any performer who overacts.

2. juba.

3. Bowling Slang. four consecutive strikes.

4. Usually ham bone a bone in a hog's ham.

   We always use the leftover ham bone to make pea soup.

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Etymology

Origin of hambone

First recorded in 1850–55; ham ¹ + bone; ham ²

Example Sentences

If you plunk the hambone into a pot of water with a halved onion and boil it for a couple of hours, you’ll be rewarded with a deep, sultry broth.

From New York Times • Dec. 8, 2021

For Norvell, it is also important to recognize that African-Americans in the northeast forged traditions of their own, though not as well known as Southern traditions such as banjo playing and juba, a dance style also called hambone.

From Reuters • May 29, 2015

I’ve pretty much always enjoyed watching Penn in everything, not despite of his hambone tendency to milk every moment of every shot but because of it.

From Salon • Mar. 19, 2015

And that they’re willing to put up with our hambone antics as we try to fill them in.

From Slate • May 29, 2014

In the dance pavilion at West Port Jensen the night lanterns were kindled; tourists from Seattle poured forth from the excursion steamers to perform the Svenska polka, the Rhinelander, the schottische, and the hambone.

From "Snow Falling on Cedars: A Novel" by David Guterson

Related Words

• artist
• character
• clown
• comedian
• entertainer
• performer
• player
• star
• villain