sham Abraham

First use appears c. 1752. From sham + Abraham man (“a beggar who pretends to be ill”)

• "The boatswain found me, as he said, an obstinate fellow: he swore that I understood my business perfectly well, but that I shammed Abraham merely to be idle."
• "Matthew, sceptic and scoffer, had already failed to subscribe a prompt belief in that pain about the heart: he had muttered some words, amongst which the phrase "shamming Abraham" had been very distinctly audible; […]"

• chuck a sickie
• do Abram
• pull a sickie
• throw a sickie

• play possum