See Also: hamite(medicine)
Hamite(dictionary)

jay (iou) and Hamite (iou)


jay (iou)



jay noun & adjective. L15.
[Old French (mod. geai) from late Latin gaius, gaia, perh. from male praenomen Gaius.]
A. noun.
Any of various medium-sized birds of the crow family, with varied, often colourful, plumage; spec. the Eurasian Garrulus glandarius, a raucous, woodland bird with pinkish-brown plumage marked with black, white, and blue. L15.
blue jay: see BLUE adjective. Canada jay. Siberian jay: see SIBERIAN adjective. Steller jay, Steller's jay: see STELLER.
Any of various Other birds; esp. a jackdaw; a chough. obsolete exc. dial. L15.
An impertinent chatterer. Also, a flashy or absurdly dressed person; a stupid or silly person. colloq. E16.
Comb.: jay-bird colloq. = sense A.1 above (naked as a jay-bird: see NAKED adjective); jay-hawker (chiefly US), a raiding guerrilla or irregular soldier (orig. in and around eastern Kansas).
b. attrib. or as adjective. Dull, unsophisticated, inferior, poor. US colloq. L19.

Hamite (iou)



Hamite noun & adjective. M17.
[from Ham (formerly Cham), Greek Ham, Latin Cham, the second son of Noah (Genesis 6:10) + -ITE1.]
A. noun.
A follower of Ham. derog. rare. Only in M17.
A member of a people supposedly descended from Ham, as an Egyptian or Other N. African. M19.
b. adjective. = HAMITIC adjective. M19.