1823 W. T. Moncrieff Tom & Jerry iii. v Landlady, serve them with a glass of tape, all round; and I'll stand Sammy.

1840 H. Cockton Life Valentine Vox xli They make John Bull stand Sam.

1887 J. Farrell How he Died 61 I'll stand Sam this time for Jemima's sake.

1879 ‘Frank’ Nine Days in Devon 12 Or 'pon my zam! oi really think as Zal'd a zot on moine.

1899 R. Kipling Stalky & Co. 17 'Pon my sacred Sam, though, it's enough to drive a man to drink.

1939 J. Masefield Live & Kicking Ned 115 On that I swop my solemn sam.

1940 M. Allingham Black Plumes xii. 138 Upon my Sam I think you're both mad.

1966 ‘J. Hackston’ Father clears Out 71 He'd see that things were righted, upon his Sam he would.

1843 W. T. Moncrieff Scamps of London ii. i I'm a ruined homo—a muff—a flat—a Sam—a regular ass.

1867 W. H. Dixon New Amer. II. ii. 13 Sam—all negroes there are Sams—may be a Methodist.

1877 L. Hearn Genius Loci in Cincinnati Commercial 12 Aug. 6/4 I'm Rag-a-back Sam, And I don't care a d——m, Fur I sooner-be a nigger dan a poor white man.

1938 Amer. Speech 13 152/1 Sam, a negro who demeans himself to secure favor with white people.

1964 L. Nkosi Rhythm of Violence 4 Black Sams! Why don't they do somethin' so we can handle this once and for all!

1973 K. Johnson in T. Kochman Rappin' & Stylin' Out 148 Sam, a common name of black males, it is used to refer to any black male. In addition, the story character, Sambo, was black; perhaps the label derives from ‘Little Black Sambo’.

c1000 Sax. Leechd. II. 22 Þonne samnað hio þa wunde & hælð.

c1175 Ormulum (Burchfield transcript) l. 1552 Þu sammnesst all þin mele inn an. & cnedesst itt to geddre.

a1400–50 Alexander 1520 He plyes ouire þe pauement with pallen webis, Mas on hiȝt ouire his hede for hete of þe sone, Sylours of sendale to sele ouire þe gatis, And sammes [Dubl. sampnez] þaim on aithire side with silken rapis.

a1400–50 Alexander 5290 Þan scho laches him be-lyfe & ledis him forthire, In-to a clochere with a kay þe clennest of þe werde, Was sammed all of sipris & seder-tables.

c1400 (?c1390) Sir Gawain & Green Knight (1940) l. 659 Vchone..Ne samned neuer in no syde, ne sundred nouþ[er].

a1425 (a1325) Cursor Mundi (Galba) l. 27762 Slewth oft samnes sorow strang, and þat vnmekely lastand lang.

1824 W. Carr Horæ Momenta Cravenæ 11 If shoe nobbud cud git a bit a naturable rist, shoe wod sam up strength fast.

1893 J. K. Snowden Tales Yorks. Wolds 168 We sammed together all we could find.

1934 J. B. Priestley Eden End i. 10 I've been up in the back garret, samming up these old clothes for the doctor.

1615 H. Crooke Μικροκοσμογραϕια 263 There is nothing to be seene but the seede coagulated or sammed together.

1615 H. Crooke Μικροκοσμογραϕια 429 Whereby those things which otherwise could hardly be sammed together might receiue their conglutination.

1691 J. Ray N. Country Words in J. Ray Coll. Eng. Words (ed. 2) To samme Milk, to put the running to it, to curdle it.

1788 W. Marshall Provincialisms E. Yorks. in Rural Econ. Yorks. II. 349 ‘When do you sam?’ When do you set your milk? or, When do you make cheese?

1883 R. Haldane Workshop Receipts 2nd Ser. 367/1 The skins are allowed to drain,..and after ‘samming’, or damping with cold water, are staked.

1885 A. Watt Art of Leather Manuf. xii. 151 The butts are next piled in a heap to sam, or samm, as it is termed, for several days, by which the leather becomes tempered or in an uniformly moist and softened condition.

1870 Eng. Mech. 11 Feb. 534/2 Hang until about half dry, or, technically speaking, ‘Sammed’.

1909 H. G. Bennett Manuf. Leather xx. 256 Samming is an exceedingly important operation by which leather is brought into a uniformly half-dry condition, this state being quite necessary for many of the finishing operations... The ‘sammed’ condition may be obtained in three ways—by drying out completely and then wetting back by dipping through water (often tepid) and leaving ‘in pile’ for some hours; by drying the wet goods in suspension to the required consistency and no further, wetting back any parts that have become drier than the bulk and leaving in pile for a time to become uniform; and by machine samming, in which case the superfluous moisture is removed by the pressure of machine rollers.

1390 J. Gower Confessio Amantis II. 240 Doun thei seten bothe same.

a1400 Sir Beues (A.) 4561 Þe maide & Miles wer spused same In þe toun of Notinghame.

a1400 (a1325) Cursor Mundi (Gött.) l. 9750 I sal crie pes in lande i-wiss, And dome and pes do sam þen [Vesp. samen] kis.

c1400 (?c1390) Sir Gawain & Green Knight (1940) l. 363 Syþen þay redden alle same, To ryd þe kyng wyth croun.

?c1450 Life St. Cuthbert (1891) l. 4895 Þe scottys were gadird sam.

a1500 (?c1400) Sir Triamour (Cambr.) (1937) l. 1127 They seyde, ‘god be at yowre game!’ He seyde, ‘welcome all same!’

a1500 (a1460) Towneley Plays (1994) I. xii. 113 Now God gyf you care, Foles all sam!

a1500 Tale of Basin in M. M. Furrow Ten 15th-cent. Comic Poems (1985) 53 Off a person ȝe mowe here..And of his broþer þat was hym dere And louyd well samme.

1513 G. Douglas tr. Virgil Æneid vii. iv. 59 And heyr full oft at buyrdis by and by The heris wer wont togiddir syt all sam.

1579 E. Spenser Shepheardes Cal. May 168 For what concord han light and darke sam?

a1600 Floddan Field (1664) ii. 18 When they were all assembled Sam The town of Edenbrough before, Fifty great Lords there were of Fame.

a1600 Floddan Field (1664) vii. 68 All Sam the souldiers then replied.