Sham, v. t. [imp. & p. p. Shammed; p. pr. & vb. n. Shamming.]
1. To trick; to cheat; to deceive or delude with false pretenses. Fooled and shammed into a conviction. L'Estrange.
2. To obtrude by fraud or imposition. [R.] We must have a care that we do not . . . sham fallacies upon the world for current reason. L'Estrange.
3. To assume the manner and character of; to imitate; to ape; to feign. To sham Abram or Abraham, to feign sickness; to malinger. Hence a malingerer is called, in sailors' cant, Sham Abram, or Sham Abraham.
3 other Webster entries under this spelling
Sham, n.
1. That which deceives expectation; any trick, fraud, or device that deludes and disappoint; a make-believe; delusion; imposture, humbug. "A mere sham." Bp. Stillingfleet. Believe who will the solemn sham, not I. Addison.
2. A false front, or removable ornamental covering. Pillow sham, a covering to be laid on a pillow.
Sham, a.
False; counterfeit; pretended; feigned; unreal; as, a sham fight. They scorned the sham independence proffered to them by the Athenians. Jowett (Thucyd)
Sham, v. i.
To make false pretenses; to deceive; to feign; to impose. Wondering . . . whether those who lectured him were such fools as they professed to be, or were only shamming. Macaulay.
Shades of meaning
Fernald has no entry of its own for sham; he lists it under hypocrisy.
Where he writes about it:
Pietism, originally a word of good import, is now chiefly used for an unregulated emotionalism; formalism is an exaggerated devotion to forms, rites, and ceremonies, without corresponding earnestness of heart; sham (identical in origin with shame) is a trick or device that puts one to shame, or that shamefully disappoints expectation or falsifies appearance. — from hypocrisy