m. (= hamr), a snake’s slough; ormar skríða ór hamsi á vár, Mkv.; kalla sverðit orm, en fetlana ok umgörð hams hans, Edda (Ht.) 123: metaph., góðr (íllr) hams er á e-m, one is in a good (bad) frame of mind; hams er góðr á fljóðum, Hallfred: Icel. say, vera í góðum, vondum hamsi, id.: allit. phrases as, hafa hold og hams, ‘to keep up flesh and skin,’ i. e. to be hale and hearty, to be in a good state.

II. in plur. hamsar means particles of suet. In Norway hams means the husks of beans and grains: in Dan. a kind of beetle is called gjedehams. ☞ The s in hams is curious; it is kept throughout all cases; it is either a remnant of the old masc. mark s for r as in Gothic, or perhaps the s answers to the inflex. d as in O. H. G. hamedi, Germ. hemd; but still more closely to the inflex. final s in Ital. camisa, Fr. chemise.