ham it up

• ham up

• Audio (General Australian):

  (file)

ham it up (third-person singular simple present hams it up, present participle hamming it up, simple past and past participle hammed it up)

1. (idiomatic, acting) To deliberately exaggerate one's emotions or movements, or to overact or act hammily.

   Synonyms: ham, chew the scenery, melodramatize, overact, tear a cat

   Near-synonym: camp it up

   You can count on him to ham it up for the camera.