Definitions

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • noun US, slang, offensive, obsolete A black person.
  • noun US, obsolete Something average; a mediocre thing or person, especially a jazz musician.

Etymologies

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

From ham + fat.

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Examples

  • His vanity had got savage wounds from the hoots and the "Oh, bite it off, hamfat," which had greeted his impressive lecture on the magic lantern pictures.

    Susan Lenox: Her Fall and Rise, Volume I 1915

  • His vanity had got savage wounds from the hoots and the "Oh, bite it off, hamfat," which had greeted his impressive lecture on the magic lantern pictures.

    Susan Lenox: Her Fall and Rise David Graham Phillips 1889

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