slang. Also 8 bamb. [Of the same age as BAMBOOZLE, of which it appears to be either an abbreviation (cf. the Tatler, No. 230 on phizz., hipps., mobb., pozz., rep., ‘and many more’ ‘Refinements of Twenty Years past’), or else the source of its first syllable.]
trans. To hoax, practise on the credulity of, deceive, impose upon, cozen.
1738. Swift, Polite Conv., i. Wks. (1755), XI. 214. Her ladyship was plaguily bamb’d.
1747. Garrick, Miss in Teens, II. i. I’ll break a lamp, bully a constable, bam a justice, or bilk a box-keeper, with any man.
1774. Foote, Cozeners, III. Wks. 1799, II. 181 (in Webster). This is some conspiracy, I suppose, to bam, to chouse me out of my money.
1830. Marryat, King’s Own, xlix. Now you’re bamming me—don’t attempt to put such stories off on your old granny.
b. absol. or intr. To hoax, impose upon the credulous.
1707. Cibber, Double Gallant, I. ii. (1736), 19. ‘Pray, Sir, what is’t you do understand?’ Sound. ‘Bite, Bam, and the best of the Lay, old Boy.’
1825. R. Ward, Tremaine, III. xxi. 379. I should say Rector was bamming.
1859. G. Massey, in Sat. Rev., 5 March. Our greatest of men is Harlequin Pam, ‘The Times’ says so, and ‘the Times’ cannot bam!
