slang. [f. prec. vb.] A story intended to impose upon the credulous; a hoax or imposition.
1762. Foote, Orators, I. i. Wks. 1799, I. 8. He is all upon his fun; he lecture—why, ’tis all but a bam.
1815. Scott, Guy M., iii. Humble efforts at jocularity chiefly confined to what were then called bites and bams, since denominated hoaxes and quizzes.
