slang. [short for FAMBLE sb.] = FAMBLE in various senses. Also in Comb. as fam-grasp v., intr. and trans., to shake hands, make up a difference (with); fam-snatcher.
1692–1732. Coles, Fam grasp, agree with.
a. 1700. B. E., Dict. Cant. Crew. Famgrasp, to agree.
1789. G. Parker, Life’s Painter, 180. Fam, a gold ring.
1812. J. H. Vaux, Flash Dict., Fam, the hand.
1819. T. Moore, Tom Crib’s Mem., 28.
| And allowing for delicate fams, which have merely | |
| Been handling the sceptre, and that, too, but queerly. |
1828. P. Egan, Finish to Life in London, xiv. (1871), 309. To Jerry Hawthorn, Esq., I resign my fam-snatcher, i.e., my Gloves.
