To sham Abram or Abraham, to feign sickness; to malinger. Hence a
malingerer is called, in sailors' cant, Sham Abram, or Sham Abraham.
Sham, v. i. To make false pretenses; to deceive; to feign; to impose.
Wondering . . . whether those who lectured him were such fools as
they professed to be, or were only shamming.
Macaulay.
||Sha"ma (?), n. [Hind. shm.] (Zoöl.) A saxicoline singing bird
||(Kittacincla macroura) of India, noted for the sweetness and power of
||its song. In confinement it imitates the notes of other birds and
||various animals with accuracy. Its head, neck, back, breast, and tail
||are glossy black, the rump white, the under parts chestnut.
Sha"man (?), n. [From the native name.] A priest of Shamanism; a wizard
among the Shamanists.
<! p. 1323 !>
Sha*man"ic (?), a. Of or pertaining to Shamanism.
Sha"man*ism (?), n. The type of religion which once prevalied among all
the Ural-Altaic peoples (Tungusic, Mongol, and Turkish), and which
still survives in various parts of Northern Asia. The Shaman, or wizard
priest, deals with good as well as with evil spirits, especially the
good spirits of ancestors. Encyc. Brit.
Sha"man*ist, n. An adherent of Shamanism.
Sham"ble (?), n. [OE. schamel a bench, stool, AS. scamel, sceamol, a
bench, form, stool, fr. L. scamellum, dim. of scamnum a bench, stool.]
1. (Mining) One of a succession of niches or platforms, one above
another, to hold ore which is thrown successively from platform to
platform, and thus raised to a higher level.