ham sandwich

• (sandwich made with ham): (rare) hamsandwich, (dated) ham-sandwich

ham sandwich (countable and uncountable, plural ham sandwiches)

1. (countable, rarely uncountable) A sandwich made with ham.
   • 1890, Augustus J[ohn] C[uthbert] Hare, South-Eastern France, London: George Allen, […], page 224:

     The most curious volcano of the district is the Puy Chopine, a dome rising from a crater of scoria composed of granite rocks enclosed, like a slice of ham sandwich, between a layer of basalt and a layer of trachyte.

   • 1919, H. von Hug-Hellmuth, translated by James J[ackson] Putnam and Mabel Stevens, A Study of the Mental Life of the Child (Nervous and Mental Disease Monograph Series; 29), Washington, D.C.: Nervous and Mental Disease Publishing Company, page 143:

     Muttsen looked at Eva and Eva looked at Muttsen—and Eva did not cry out, Eva slept gently—Eva ate a little sausage—a piece of ham sandwich, for her supper—Eva ate it all up; […]

   • 1970 April, Railway World, page 164:

     But then I became aware of a noise which at first I attributed to National Health teeth having a tussle with a tough piece of ham sandwich.

   • 1978, G[eorge] Neil Jenkins, The Physiology and Biochemistry of the Mouth, 4th edition, Oxford, Oxon: Blackwell Scientific Publications, →ISBN, page 525:

     For example, two subjects both chewed 13 times for a standard piece of ham sandwich; […]

   • 1984, Kormondy Essenfeld, Tests for Addison-Wesley Biology‎, Menlo Park, Calif.: Addison-Wesley Publishing Company, →ISBN:

     In the mouth, the piece of ham sandwich is mechanically broken down by chewing with teeth.

   • 1986 January 30, Swen, “Something’s new under the sun”, in The Times-News, 81st year, number 30, Twin Falls, Ida., page D-5, column 3:

     Over the years I have caught fish that had cockle burrs, a piece of ham sandwich, twigs, mice, frogs, even a baby bird.

   • 1993 March, Bill Sharp, “The Belt Tightens”, in HP Professional, volume 7, number 3, page 10:

     He was slowly turning a deep reddish-blue, so I quickly pulled him to his feet and prepared to perform the Heimlich maneuver to dislodge the piece of ham sandwich that must have stuck in his throat.

   • 1994, David Alexander, Bandit, New York, N.Y.: Avon Books, →ISBN, page 41:

     “Hell, that’s practically the Stone Age,” Applegate commented with a laugh, then crammed the last piece of ham sandwich into his mouth and chewed contemplatively before adding, “I can promise you what we have in store will knock your socks off.”

   • 2015, Spencer Quinn [pseudonym; Peter Abrahams], Woof (a Bowser and Birdie novel), New York, N.Y.: Scholastic Inc., published 2016, →ISBN, page 179:

     Maybelline tore off another piece of ham sandwich and fed it to me.

2. (countable, US) Something utterly commonplace, of modest value.
   • 1900, Charles A. Conant, “The Financial Future of the United States”, in The Bankers magazine, volume 61, page 603:

     but did you ever hear of a young man, who becomes a millionaire in the approved style, starting life on a farm, studying by the light of a tallow dip, and coming to the city with forty-five cents and a ham sandwich

   • 1920 April 15, Dr. Albert F. Blakeslee, “letter on Sexuality in Mucors”, in Science, page 375:

     One of last year's speakers, in distinguishing types of true research worth while from investigations unworthy of the name, held up to ridicule a hypothetical investigation of a ham sandwich and the pseudo-scientist who would attempt a monographic treatment of such a subject.

   • 1998 September 15, Tony Kornheiser, “Up for the Game, Down for the Count”, in Washington Post:

     But regardless of how enamored you may be of Green's manner and his potential, it has to come as a shock to you that he's the starter. A month ago you could have had him for a ham sandwich

   • 2004, David J. Darling, The universal book of mathematics: from Abracadabra to Zeno's paradoxes, page 106:

     After all, nothing is better than eternal happiness, and a ham sandwich is certainly better than nothing. Therefore a ham sandwich is better than eternal happiness.

   • 2008 September 15, “Jury Papers Cast Doubt On Rosenberg Conviction”, in Talk of the Nation (NPR):

     Even without the typing bit, the grand jury indicted her; one has to keep that in mind. / This was the Cold War, and we always remember the old line for prosecutors that you can get a grand jury to indict a ham sandwich.

   • 2009 June, Ezra Dyer, “The Car That Should Save GM”, in Esquire, volume 151, number 6, page 28:

     It's sports-car fast, has a big leather-trimmed interior, and costs as much as a ham sandwich.

3. (countable, vulgar) A vagina.

• ham sandwich theorem
• indict a ham sandwich

• ham sandwich on Wikipedia.Wikipedia