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.

Source: Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913)