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go ham

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go HAM¹

Where it comes from

See HAM and go hard.

verb goes HAM · going HAM · went HAM · gone HAM

  1. alternative Alternative spelling of go ham

go ham²

  • /ɡoʊ ˈhæm/

Rhymes with -æm

Where it comes from

Uncertain; the earliest use of the term in the idiomatic sense appears to be in the 2007 song "Go Ham on 'Em" by Soulja Boy (see quotation below), although isolated usage goes back earlier. "Ham" is often thought to be an acronym of "hard as a motherfucker" (with go ham then parsing as go hard as a motherfucker), although this may be a backronym. Alternatively, it could be a phonetic clipping of mayhem. The term was popularized by the 2011 song "H.A.M." by Jay-Z and Kanye West. The fact that go the whole hog and go ham have senses that are synonymous at least raises the question of whether the pig-portions connection is wholly coincidental or not.

verb goes ham · going ham · went ham · gone ham · go HAM · go H.A.M.

  1. intransitive, often, slang, with on To enter an enraged and uncontrollable state; to go berserk. If you use her fabric scissors, she's going to go ham on you.

    Similar: go crazy, go wild, flip one's wig, flip out, freak out, get one's freak on, go ballistic, go bananas, go berserk, go bonkers, go HAM, go H.A.M.

  2. intransitive, often, slang, with on To do something with the maximum possible effort; to go all out. My costume last Halloween was pretty lame, but this time I'm really going to go ham.

    Similar: go the whole hog, full send, put one's whole pussy into

  3. Used other than figuratively or idiomatically: see go, ham. Don't go ham on me. Don't go ham. I'm the whole works, and you know it. I'm just carrying you.

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MLA

"go ham." Wiktionary, via Micwyn, micwyn.com/word/go%20ham. Accessed 6 Nov. 2026.

APA

go ham. (n.d.). In Wiktionary, via Micwyn. Retrieved November 6, 2026, from https://micwyn.com/word/go%20ham

Chicago

"go ham." Wiktionary, via Micwyn. Accessed November 6, 2026. https://micwyn.com/word/go%20ham.

BibTeX
@misc{go_ham_2026,
  title = {go ham},
  howpublished = {Wiktionary, via Micwyn},
  year = {2026},
  url = {https://micwyn.com/word/go%20ham},
  urldate = {2026-11-06}
}