gamb

G2A1M3B3
UK/ɡamb/US/ɡæmb/

noun

The leg or shank, typically of an animal, especially of a lion, on a coat of arms, crest, etc.

OriginMiddle French gambe ← Late Latin gamba →
UncommonScrabble 9
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Meanings

noungamb (plural gambs)

plural gambs · alternative gambe

  1. governmentThe leg or shank, typically of an animal, especially of a lion, on a coat of arms, crest, etc.

    Vachell, Eng. a bull's gamb in pale, couped, argent. […] Vaughan of Littleton, Middlesex, a lion's gamb, or, holding a human heart, gules.

    1817, Alexander Deuchar, British Crests: containing the crests and mottos of the families of Great Britain and Ireland; together with those of the principal cities; and a glossary of heraldic terms ... Embellished with nearly fourteen hundred crests, engraved by Robert Kirkwood, from original drawings, by G. Sanders, and J. Grant, page 284
  2. slangA person's leg; gam.

    […] but Heavens above what a pair of gambs! Stems. What the vulgar call legs.

    1954, Gerald Kersh, Guttersnipe: Little Novels, page 211

Origin

  1. Late Latingamba
  2. Middle Frenchgambe
  3. Englishgamb

From Middle French gambe (variant of jambe) from Late Latin gamba (hoof, leg, shank). Doublet of jamb, gamba, and gam.

More words from Middle French, Late Latin

Full word history & related roots →

Rhymes & wordplay

Anagrams

gbam
Cite this entry
APA

gamb. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 2, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/gamb

MLA

“gamb.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/gamb. Accessed November 2, 2026.

Chicago

WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “gamb,” accessed November 2, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/gamb.

Source: gamb on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.