From WordNet (r) 3.0 (2006) [wn]:
Spam
n 1: a canned meat made largely from pork
2: unwanted e-mail (usually of a commercial nature sent out in
bulk) [syn: {spam}, {junk e-mail}]
v 1: send unwanted or junk e-mail
From The Jargon File (version 4.4.7, 29 Dec 2003) [jargon]:
spam
vt.,vi.,n.
[from Monty Python's Flying Circus]
1. To crash a program by overrunning a fixed-size buffer with excessively
large input data. See also {buffer overflow}, {overrun screw}, {smash the
stack}.
2. To cause a newsgroup to be flooded with irrelevant or inappropriate
messages. You can spam a newsgroup with as little as one well- (or ill-)
planned message (e.g. asking ?What do you think of abortion?? on
soc.women). This is often done with {cross-post}ing (e.g. any message which
is cross-posted to alt.rush-limbaugh and alt.politics.homosexuality will
almost inevitably spam both groups). This overlaps with {troll} behavior;
the latter more specific term has become more common.
3. To send many identical or nearly-identical messages separately to a
large number of Usenet newsgroups. This is more specifically called ECP,
Excessive Cross-Posting. This is one sure way to infuriate nearly everyone
on the Net. See also {velveeta} and {jello}.
4. To bombard a newsgroup with multiple copies of a message. This is more
specifically called EMP, Excessive Multi-Posting.
5. To mass-mail unrequested identical or nearly-identical email messages,
particularly those containing advertising. Especially used when the mail
addresses have been culled from network traffic or databases without the
consent of the recipients. Synonyms include {UCE}, {UBE}. As a noun, ?spam?
refers to the messages so sent.
6. Any large, annoying, quantity of output. For instance, someone on IRC
who walks away from their screen and comes back to find 200 lines of text
might say ?Oh no, spam?.
The later definitions have become much more prevalent as the Internet has
opened up to non-techies, and to most people senses 3 4 and 5 are now
primary. All three behaviors are considered abuse of the net, and are
almost universally grounds for termination of the originator's email
account or network connection. In these senses the term ?spam? has gone
mainstream, though without its original sense or folkloric freight ? there
is apparently a widespread myth among {luser}s that ?spamming? is what
happens when you dump cans of Spam into a revolving fan. Hormel, the makers
of Spam, have published a surprisingly enlightened position statement on
the Internet usage.
From V.E.R.A. -- Virtual Entity of Relevant Acronyms (June 2013) [vera]:
SPAM
Send Phenomenal Amounts of Mail (Usenet, EMP, slang)
From V.E.R.A. -- Virtual Entity of Relevant Acronyms (June 2013) [vera]:
SPAM
Spiced Pork and hAM (Usenet, EMP)
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