fullam

See also: Fullam

English

Two dice, both landing high on six.

Alternative forms

• fullan, fullom, fulham

Etymology

From Fulham, a London suburb, which during the reign of Queen Elizabeth I was the most notorious place for blacklegs in all of England. Loaded dice were supposed to have been chiefly made there.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈfʊləm/
• Hyphenation: ful‧lam
• Homophone: Fulham
• Rhymes: -ʊləm

Noun

fullam (plural fullam or fullams)

1. (archaic, UK, slang) A false die; a die intentionally loaded, or unevenly weighted, so that it always rolls a specific number.
   • 1594, Thomas Nashe, The Unfortunate Traveller:

     Captaine, you perceiue how neere both of vs are driuen, the dice of late are growen as melancholy as a dog, high men and low men both prosper alike, langrets, fullams, and all the whole fellowshippe of them will not affoord a man his dinner, some other means must be inuented to preuent imminent extremitie.

   • a. 1597, William Shakespeare, The Merry Wives of Windsor, Act 1, Scene 3:

     Let vultures gripe thy guts! For gourd and fullam holds / And high and low beguiles the rich and poor.

   • 1599, Ben Jonson, Every Man out of His Humour, Act 3, Scene 1:

     Who! he serve? 'sblood, he keeps high men, and low-men, he! he has a fair living at Fullam.

2. (archaic, UK, colloquial, by extension) A sham; a hoax; a make-believe.

Synonyms

• (false die): gourd, langret, loaded dice (plural)
• (sham): see Thesaurus:deception

Hyponyms

• (false die): highmen (“loaded for high number”) (plural), lowmen (“loaded for low number”) (plural), uphills (“loaded for high number”) (plural)

References

• John S[tephen] Farmer; W[illiam] E[rnest] Henley, compilers (1893) “fullam”, in Slang and Its Analogues Past and Present. […], volume III, [London: […] Harrison and Sons] […], →OCLC, page 83.