Plural of Sam, a given name; could refer to surface-to-air missiles (SAMs) or multiple people named Sam.
As a name, Sam is short for Samuel (Hebrew 'God has heard') or Samantha (possibly Aramaic 'listener'). As an acronym for Surface-to-Air Missile, it's a 20th-century military term.
The ambiguity of 'SAMs' perfectly illustrates how context drives meaning - in a family gathering it means people named Sam, but in military discussions it refers to sophisticated missile defense systems. This dual nature shows how abbreviations can create entirely separate semantic fields.
Complete word intelligence in one call. Free tier — 50 lookups/day.