[‘ A piece of fun; a game, a jest; a frolic. Freq. in pl.: antics, ‘tricks’.']
Pronunciation: Brit. /ˈɡamək/, U.S. /ˈɡæmək/
Forms: 18 *gammyk* /Eng. regional/ (Devon), 18 *gamock* /Eng. regional/ (Shropshire), 18 *gommack* /Eng. regional/ (Essex), 18– *gamack* /Eng. regional/ (Surrey), 18– *gamak* /Eng. regional/ (E. Anglian), 18– *gamalk* /Eng. regional/ (E. Anglian), 18– *gammick* /Eng. regional/ (Essex), 18– *gammik* /Eng. regional/ (Somerset), 18– *gammock*, 18– *gammuck* /Eng. regional/ (Cheshire), 18– *gammux* /Eng. regional/ (Wilts.).
Etymology: < game n. + -ock suffix.
A form gammet is also recorded in English and U.S. regional use in the same meaning (see Eng. Dial. Dict. (1900) at gammet sb. and v., Dict. Amer. Regional Eng. (1991) at gammet n., v.).
Chiefly Eng. regional. Now rare.
*1.* A piece of fun; a game, a jest; a frolic. Freq. in pl.: antics, ‘tricks’.
1819 ‘R. Rabelais’ /Abeillard & Heloisa/ 176 ‘Tis but a fash’nable gammock.
1823 ‘J. Bee’ /Slang/, /Gammocks/, running up and down, as in a fair, rolling among the hay, or flaunting at Vauxhall.
1824 T. Gaspey /Witch-finder/ I. x. 219 Somebody has been telling him of my gammocks, and the undutiful old fellow has come up to school me for them.
1877 /Coll. Hist. & Archæol. Montgomeryshire/ X. 292 /Gammocks/, antics, tricks, foolery. ‘Stop thy gammocks.’
1899 /Gentleman’s Mag./ Mar. 264 Our Tryphee ain’t tried any more gammicks wi’ that ‘ere ‘‘igh art cookery’ o’ hern—chillies, indeed!
1904 C. M. Gaskell /Old Shropshire Life/ 258 She has dared to come here… I tell thee I’ll have naught to do with witches and their devil gammocks.
*2.* As mass noun: fun, sport; foolery.
1841 C. H. Hartshorne /Salopia Antiqua/ Gloss., /Gamock/, foolish sport, practical jokes.
1891 S. O. Addy /Gloss. Words Sheffield/ Suppl. (at cited word), She’s too much gammock about her.