Definitions

from The Century Dictionary.

  • noun An establishment for bathing in the Oriental manner with sweating and manipulation; a Turkish or other Oriental bath.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • noun a communal bathhouse in Islamic countries.

Etymologies

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

Turkish hamam, from Arabic حمّام (ḥammām).

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Examples

  • If the hammam were a Greek tragedy, and in some ways I think it is, this man's entry is the peripeteia, the moment of dramatic reversal that marks the beginning of catharsis.

    Why Syria scrubs up so well 2010

  • The hammam was a public bath in the classic Ara - bian mode.

    Split Infinity Anthony, Piers 1980

  • The hammam was a public bath in the classic Ara - bian mode.

    Split Infinity Anthony, Piers 1980

  • Afghan men and boys bathe in the hot room of what is known as a hammam on March 5 in Herat.

    msnbc.com: Top msnbc.com headlines 2010

  • Afghan men and boys bathe in the hot room of what is known as a hammam on March 5 in Herat.

    msnbc.com: Top msnbc.com headlines 2010

  • Afghan men and boys bathe in the hot room of what is known as a hammam on March 5 in Herat.

    msnbc.com: Top msnbc.com headlines 2010

  • Either way, the hammam is a great way to wash away the sins of summer and go forth into the fall with a glowing aura.

    Luxist Amy Cortese 2010

  • Afghan men and boys bathe in the hot room of what is known as a hammam on March 5 in Herat.

    msnbc.com: Top msnbc.com headlines 2010

  • Afghan men and boys bathe in the hot room of what is known as a hammam on March 5 in Herat.

    msnbc.com: Top msnbc.com headlines 2010

  • In between the shops may often be noticed small doorways, whose white plaster is decorated by some bright though crude design in many colours; this is the "hammam," or public bath, while the shop of the barber, chief gossip and story-teller of his quarter, is easily distinguished by the fine-meshed net hung across the entrance as a protection against flies, for flies abound in Cairo, which, however disagreeable they may be, is perhaps fortunate in a country where the laws of sanitation are so lightly regarded.

    Peeps at Many Lands: Egypt R. Talbot Kelly 1897

Comments

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  • "'God help us, Stephen,' he said, throwing a towell over his nakedness as Stephen came in, 'we might be in a hammam, a bagnio, a Turkish flaming bath. I must have lost a couple of stone.'

    "'You could spare as much again,' said Stephen. 'And since you are of a very full habit, you would certainly benefit from blood-letting. I will draw off sixteen or twenty ounces directly: you will feel more comfortable, and there will be a little less danger of siriasis or apoplexy,' he said, putting down the box he was carrying and drawing a lancet from his pocket."

    --Patrick O'Brian, Treason's Harbour, 189

    February 19, 2008

  • ...lying languidly on a tiger skin, fondling a scimitar...and bathing, lattice-lit, at a marble hammam.

    —Jeffrey Eugenides, 2002, Middlesex, p. 36

    August 16, 2008