1677 W. Wycherley Plain-dealer iii. 53 Law. Why, I'm sure you jok'd upon me, and shamm'd me all night long. Man...Shamming! What does he mean by't Freeman? Free. Shamming, is telling you an insipid, dull Lye, with a dull Face, which the slie Wag the Author only laughs at himself; and making himself believe 'tis a good Jest, puts the Sham only upon himself.

1678 Lady Chaworth in 12th Rep. Royal Comm. Hist. MSS (1890) App. v. 53 A letter to the Secretary..some feare..that tis rather a sham to prevent stricter scherch.

1678 T. ay Friendship in Fashion i. i The Sham won't pass upon me, Sir, it won't look you.

1680 Refl. Late Libel on Curse-ye-Meroz 19 'Tis but a Tale, and a Story of his own making, like all the rest of the Sham's he would gladly put upon the Author.

1681 N. Luttrell Diary in Brief Hist. Relation State Affairs (1857) I. 66 Some scruple not to think this a shamm, and only an accusation to draw in others.

1688 Eng. Prot. Mem. to Pr. & P'cess Orange 19 They thought it an easie sham to say women misreckoned very often.

a1696 J. Aubrey Brief Lives: Chaloner (1898) I. 160 He [Chaloner] wrote..an anonymous pamphlett, 8vo, scil. An account of the Discovery of Moyses's Tombe... 'Twas a pretty while before the shamme was detected.

1727 D. Defoe Ess. Hist. Apparitions viii. 141 He..seem'd to laugh that she should first put such a Sham upon him, and then to tell such a formal Story to make it good.

1751 Affecting Narr. H.M.S. Wager 31 I own, I ever look'd upon the whole Affair as a Sham.

1821 W. M. Praed Gog i. 191 You think I'm playing off a sham.

1683 J. Oldham Poems & Transl. 182 Let the Plot-mongers stay behind, whose Art Can Truth to Sham, and Sham to Truth convert.

1713 M. Henry Folly Despising in Wks. (1855) I. 160 A man justly reckons himself affronted and resents it accordingly, who is imposed upon by sham and banter.

1689 T. Rymer View Govt. Europe 87 They negotiate upon the square, frankly, and without artifice, or double dealing, not disguised, or upon the sham.

c1691 Virgin's Compl. 25 in Bagford Ballads (1878) 931 Robin came upon the Sham, Told me many [a] Lye and Flam.

1683 J. Oldham Poems & Transl. 206 Hence holy Sham!.. To some raw ent'ring Sinner cant, and Whine, Who never knew the worth of Drunkenness and Wine.

1728 J. Morgan Compl. Hist. Algiers I. List of Subscribers By retaining such a number of Names tho' Shams I might have showed away pompously.

1822 W. Fowler in Corr. 437 One window wanted in west front as sham.

1835 T. Campbell Epist. from Algiers to H. Smith in Compl. Poet. Wks. (1907) 320 For the pain of my thirst is no sham.

a1850 D. G. Rossetti Dante & Circle (1874) i. 237 That direst wolf shall seem like sweetest lamb Beneath the constant sham.

1861 Sat. Rev. 23 Nov. 524 To see whether the promised reduction of the naval and military forces of France is to be a reality or a sham.

1874 J. T. Micklethwaite Mod. Parish Churches 215 As dishonest a sham as the stucco stone ‘orders’ of modern Regent Street.

1877 ‘Mrs. Forrester’ Mignon I. 244 She will have no shams, no imitations if she knows it.

1902 J. Buchan Watcher by Threshold v. 312 The hollow shams of life with their mincing conventions had departed.

1850 T. Carlyle Latter-day Pamphlets i. 15 The greatest sham, I have always thought, is he that would destroy shams.

1867 A. Trollope Last Chron. Barset I. xxiv. 214 Who can undertake to say that he is not a sham in anything?

1843 T. Carlyle Past & Present i. v. 36 The laws of Sham and Semblance, which are called the Devil's Laws.

1857 T. Hughes Tom Brown's School Days i. ix. 211 It's all sham, he's only afraid to fight it out.

1721 R. Steele Conscious Lovers i. i Wearing shams to make linen last clean a fortnight.

1772 T. Nugent tr. J. F. de Isla Hist. Friar Gerund II. 67 A silk handkerchief round their necks,..half shirts or shams of coarse linen.

1785 F. Grose Classical Dict. Vulgar Tongue at Sham Shams, false sleeves to put on over a dirty shirt, or false sleeves with ruffles to put over a plain one.

1863 R. B. Girdlestone Anat. Scepticism 68 He fills up the rest of his shop with shams (i.e. boxes supposed to be filled with everything that can be required).

1884 Cottage Hearth (Boston) Aug. 254/1 Large shams made of four very small handkerchiefs..are elegant in appearance over blue or pink under covers.

1893 Sc. Leader 12 June 1 Beautifully embroidered..tray cloths, tea cloths, pillow cases, shams and sheets.

1891 Cent. Dict.

1906 Williamson Lady Betty across Water 280 There are stiff square ‘shams’ to hide the pillows and turn down over the top of the sheet.

1681 T. A. Religio Clerici To Rdr. Let Sham-truths be drawn as severally as mens fancies and humours please (yet) she [sc. Truth] her self hath nevertheless one regular, uniform, eternal Face.

1682 T. Otway in A. Behn City-heiress Prol. sig. A4 Who..Wou'd lay sweet Money out in Sham-Thanksgivings? Sham-Plots you may have paid for o'er and o'er; But who ere paid for a Sham-Treat before?

?1697 J. Lewis Mem. Duke of Glocester (1789) 91 Thus these sham fights began and ended, to the no small entertainment of the little Duke and his boys.

1699 Country Gentleman's Vade-mecum 98 After a little Sham-squabble between the two Cheats, says the first, If [etc.].

1708 Deplorable State of New-Eng. iii. 22 As soon as the Sham-Vote..was Gained, the Governour draws the Council in.

1714 London Gaz. No. 5238/4 Known by the Sham Title of the Lady Rich.

1724 R. Welton Substance Christian Faith 70 We find our Blessed Saviour upbraiding those puritanick Jews..with a conscious hypocrisy and sham zeal.

1740 S. Richardson Pamela I. xxxi. 238 Perchance, some Sham-marriage may be design'd, on purpose to ruin me.

1770 S. Foote Lame Lover ii. 34 Demurrers, sham-pleas, writs of error.., and imparlance.

1770 ‘Junius’ Stat Nominis Umbra (1772) II. xxxvi. 66 I do not refer to the sham prosecution which you affected to carry on against him.

1839 C. J. Lever Confessions Harry Lorrequer i. 11 A sham-battle in the Fifteen Acres.

1846 O. W. Holmes Urania 24 And these..Are all impatience till the opening pun Proclaims the witty shamfight is begun.

1963 Life Sci. 2 475 Rats..were thymectomized within the first eighteen hours after birth. Approximately half of the litters were sham-operated. The polyoma virus was injected subcutaneously either immediately after thymectomy or sham-operation or two to three weeks afterwards.

1963 Life Sci. 2 477 Rats thymectomized at birth seem to be much more sensitive to the oncogenic action of the polyoma virus than are normal or sham-operated rats.

1970 Physiol. Zool. XLIII. 91/1 Matched animals in an approximately 1:1 ratio were ‘parietalectomized’..or sham-operated according to standard procedures.

1975 Nature 27 Mar. 349/1 Pinealectomy and sham operation were performed as described previously, and 10 d later a 2-mm semicircular wound was made in the right ear of each animal, including the controls.

1975 Nature 27 Mar. 349/2 The result indicated that control, sham-operated, and melatonin-treated animals form one group.

1677 W. Wycherley Plain-dealer iii. 52 Law. Why, I'm sure you jok'd upon me, and shamm'd me all night long. Man...Shamming! What does he mean by't Freeman? Free. Shamming, is telling you an insipid, dull Lye, with a dull Face, which the slie Wag the Author only laughs at himself; and making himself believe 'tis a good Jest, puts the Sham only upon himself.

1688 T. Shadwell Squire of Alsatia ii. i. 27 Sirrah, most audacious Rogue, do you sham me? Do you think you have your Unkle to deal with?

1693 Humours & Conversat. Town 69 Their highest Excellence is, to banter the Vintner, to bilk their Lodgings, to sham their Bookseller.

1821 Ld. Byron To Mr. Murray iv So, if you will, I shan't be shamm'd.

1681 Heraclitus Ridens 30 Aug. 1/2 These true Protestant Juries have the best luck at Shamming their Friends into Halters, that ever I knew in my life.

1682 ‘T. Rationalis’ New News from Bedlam 9 Those Youths, who lately came..To sham us of our Lives and Liberty.

1692 R. L'Estrange Fables ccliii. 220 When they find themselves Fool'd and Shamm'd (as we say) into a Conviction.

1705 J. Dunton Life & Errors ii. 41 I fell into my first Amour, like a Knight Errant, being purely shamm'd into't.

1682 ‘Philanax Misopappas’ Tory Plot 9 William..was advanced to the Crown, and his Eldest Brother Robert shamm'd off with a Dukedom.

1683 W. Kennett tr. Erasmus Witt against Wisdom 53 Princes..miss the advantage of being told the truth, and are shamm'd off by a parcel of insinuating Courtiers.

1712 T. Betterton in Misc. Poems 248 For Priests with empty thanks are never shamm'd.

1726 M. Henry Wks. (1853) I. 142 Men may be shammed with a frivolous excuse.

1749 G. Lavington Enthusiasm Methodists & Papists: Pt. II Pref. p. xxvii Seeing then you have thus shammed us off with Counterfeit Coin.

1681 Arraignm.,Tryal & Condemnation S. Colledge 57 If they can make me a Traytor, they will try it upon others, and so hope to sham off their own Treasons.

1681 Arraignm.,Tryal & Condemnation S. Colledge 76 They talk up and down the Town as if I did intend to sham the Popish Plot, and to make a Protestant Plot.

1681 Arraignm.,Tryal & Condemnation S. Colledge 131 When he was told of this, he began to put it off, and to use his own words, had a great mind to sham off the business.

1691 Providences of God 124 Edward Ivy had often Conference with Mrs. Collier, and the Popish Priests in Newgate, and had received Money to Sham the Popish Plot and to swear to a Protestant one.

1679 ‘T. Ticklefoot’ Some Observ. Tryals Wakeman 8 But by all that's good, it was my Old Master Clodpate's disease,..alwayes to Sham up an Evidence when any body had bin with him the Morning before.

1699 G. Farquhar Love & Bottle iv. ii. 42 A Compound of practical Rake, and speculative Gentleman, who..Shams the Beau and Squire with a Whore or Chambermaid.

a1704 T. Brown tr. Æneas Sylvius Lett. in 3rd Vol. Wks. (1708) ii. 73 Paint and fine Washes sham a Complexion, which is none of their own.

1754 Ld. Chesterfield World No. 90. ⁋7 He keeps up his spirits bravely, and never shams his glass.

1775 R. B. Sheridan Rivals i. i Why does your master pass only for an ensign?—Now if he had shammed general indeed—.

1874 J. A. Symonds Sketches Italy & Greece (1898) I. x. 190 Tawdry frescoes shamming stonework.

1775 F. Burney Early Jrnls. & Lett. (1990) II. 112 Shamming a little confusion, I confessed I knew not where it was.

1812 W. Taylor in Monthly Mag. 34 235 Read all thy spells, and I will hear, And fold my claws, and sham a tear.

1837 T. Carlyle French Revol. II. v. v. 308 Shamming death, ‘faisant le mort!’

1843 F. E. Paget Warden of Berkingholt 246 She held the candle to my face while I was shamming sleep till I began to suspect she was up to me.

1869 ‘W. M. Cooper’ Flagellation xxii. 205 Persons shamming an epileptic fit.

1848 Jrnl. Royal Agric. Soc. 9 ii. 538 There is great room for the workmen to sham their work, without its being observable in appearance.

1787 Generous Attachment IV. 155 I preferred this scheme to that of shamming sick, as I looked so well.

1833 T. Hook Parson's Daughter II. ii. 46 If I had shammed sorry when I heard of old Alexander Marc Antony Anderson's death, I should have been as great a hypocrite as—I sha'nt say who.

1834 F. Marryat Peter Simple I. xviii. 303 What did you sham dead for?

1879 G. Meredith Egoist III. ii. 47 If you want me for a friend, you must not sham stupid.

1855 T. B. Macaulay Hist. Eng. III. xii. 169 Wondering within himself whether those who lectured him were such fools as they professed to be, or were only shamming.

1878 P. Bayne Chief Actors Puritan Revol. x. 407 He was canting and shamming.