Bites and Bams
Preserved but no longer current.
Meaning · English
Hoaxes and quizzes; humbug. [His] humble efforts at jocularity were chiefly confined to ... bites and bams. — SCOTT: Guy Mannering, ch. 3.
Era: ca. 1898 (Victorian)
Sources & notes
Reproduced from Brewer’s Dictionary of Phrase and Fable (1898 edition, public domain; archive.org, retrieved 2026-07-31; OCR text, minor errors possible). Reflects the scholarship and attitudes of its era.
Common questions
What does “Bites and Bams” mean?
Hoaxes and quizzes; humbug. [His] humble efforts at jocularity were chiefly confined to ... bites and bams. — SCOTT: Guy Mannering, ch. 3.
Is “Bites and Bams” formal or informal?
No register label has been reviewed yet — treat it as neutral and check the usage notes above.