Source : Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913)

Sham \Sham\, v. t. [imp. & p. p. {Shammed}; p. pr. & vb. n.
   {Shamming}.]
   1. To trick; to cheat; to deceive or delude with false
      pretenses.

            Fooled and shammed into a conviction. --L'Estrange.

   2. To obtrude by fraud or imposition. [R.]

            We must have a care that we do not . . . sham
            fallacies upon the world for current reason.
                                                  --L'Estrange.

   3. To assume the manner and character of; to imitate; to ape;
      to feign.

   {To sham Abram} or {Abraham}, to feign sickness; to malinger.
      Hence a malingerer is called, in sailors' cant, Sham
      Abram, or Sham Abraham.