Ram-jam

See also: ram-jam

English

Noun

Ram-jam (plural Ram-jams)

1. (dated, nonce word) A person of vaguely Middle Eastern ethnicity.
   • 1863, The Eagle: A Magazine - Volumes 3-4, page 280:

     It is not a conclusive proof of our being enlightened Christians, that we sneer and misinterpret bygone creeds, as though in the old Greek and Roman poetry were shewn nothing worthier than Fetish idols, rotten mummies, Australasian Ram-Jams and Ethiopian Mumbo-Jumbos.

   • 1876, Punch - Volumes 69-73, page 276:

     Rupees," I answered, before an admiring crowd of Ram-jams, Rajahs, and such like. “

   • 1906, Edward Frederic Benson, The Angel of Pain - Volume 0, page 16:

     He lives in the New Forest, Lady Ellington, and if when you are passing you hear the puffs of a loud steam-engine somewhere near Brockenhurst you will know it is Tom doing deep breathing. He expects in time to become a Ram-jam or something, by breathing himself into Raj-pan-puta.

   • 1985, The Spectator - Volume 254, page 15:

     No problem, I was still 'black and beautiful', and they were something else, Indian or Pakistani; 'Ram-jams' was what we called them or 'those at the corner house'.