Word.ws English Dictionary

deviled ham

deviled ham noun: a mixture of ground ham with seasoning, making it spicy.

deviled ham: a mixture of ground ham with seasoning, making it spicy
Image: Ll1324, CC0, via Wikimedia Commons

Noun

deviled ham (usually uncountable, plural deviled hams)

  1. (US, usually) A mixture of ground ham with seasoning, making it spicy.
    • Structures flabby; tongue coated heavily; appetite irregular; may not eat much through the day, but will eat the more at night. Has great fondness for goose livers, deviled hams, lobster salads, smoked tongues, marinirte (pickled) herrings, etc.1897 May 1, H[enry] Illoway, “Cardiac Disturbances from Gastric Irritation”, in Frank P[ierce] Foster, editor, The New York Medical Journal. A Weekly Review of Medicine., volume LXV, New York, N.Y....
    • Among the half-ton of canned goods were some canned meats which we have found a most welcome change from challona and charque and which we have eaten up, primarily to reduce weight, and with the secondary consideration that the jungles teem with meat. But there were certain choice tongues and...1926, Gordon MacCreagh, “Impedimenta”, in White Waters and Black, New York, N.Y.; London: The Century Co., →OCLC, page 124

Examples of deviled ham in a sentence

  • But there were certain choice tongues and deviled hams which the Director rigidly insisted on conserving against possible sickness when appetites would need to be tempted.1926, Gordon MacCreagh, “Impedimenta”, in White Waters and Black, New York, N.Y.; London: The Century Co., →OCLC, page 124:
  • Sherry brought a couple of beers and a plate of deviled ham spread on Ritz crackers.1996 April, anonymous, as told to Cathy Crimmins and Tom Maeder, chapter 1, in Primary Whites: A Novel Look at Right-Wing Politics, West...
  • No two deviled hams were alike, but damned if they weren’t all good.2012, Bruce Aidells with Anne-Marie Ramo, “Gammy Brown’s Deviled Ham”, in The Great Meat Cookbook, Boston, Mass.; New York, N.Y.: Houghton...

Forms of deviled ham

pluraldeviled hams
alternative UKdevilled ham

Origin of deviled ham

From associating hot or spicy food with the Devil; see devil (verb); compare deviled egg(s), deviled crab, devilled sausages.

Questions about deviled ham

What does deviled ham mean?
Deviled ham means a mixture of ground ham with seasoning, making it spicy.
How do you use deviled ham in a sentence?
But there were certain choice tongues and deviled hams which the Director rigidly insisted on conserving against possible sickness when appetites would need to be tempted.
What part of speech is deviled ham?
Deviled ham is a noun.
What is the plural of deviled ham?
The plural of deviled ham is deviled hams.

Words near deviled ham in the dictionary

  1. deviled
  2. deviled crab
  3. deviled crabs
  4. deviled egg
  5. deviled eggs
  6. deviled ham
  7. deviled hams
  8. deviless
  9. devilesses
  10. devilet
  11. devilets

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: deviled ham (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

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