jam
Part of speech: noun
verb
Morphological type: simple
Topics: ball-games
baseball
basketball
climbing
entertainment
games
hobbies
lifestyle
music
nautical
sports
transport
Etymology: First attested in the early 18th c. as a verb meaning “to press, be pressed, be wedged in”. Compare dialectal jammock (“to press, squeeze, crush into a soft mass, chew food"; also "a soft, pulpy substance”). Perhaps from Middle English chammen, champen ("to bite upon something, gnash the teeth"; whence modern champ, chomp), of uncertain origin; probably originally onomatopoeic.
The "performance" sense is first attested with regards to jazz in 1929, and its origin, though uncertain, is likely metaphorical, "something sweet made by the combination of many things", with influence from jamboree.
Inflected forms:
form: jams
pos: noun
tags: plural
form: jams
pos: verb
tags: present
singular
third-person
form: jamming
pos: verb
tags: participle
present
form: jammed
pos: verb
tags: participle
past
form: jammed
pos: verb
tags: past
Senses:
gloss: A sweet mixture of fruit boiled with sugar and allowed to congeal. Often spread on bread or toast or used in jam tarts
pos: noun
tags: countable
uncommon
uncountable
examples: He is allergic to jam.
She loves eating jam for breakfast in hotels.
gloss: A difficult situation.
pos: noun
tags: countable
examples: It's a blackmail ring, and the district attorneys get a share of the loot. […] Well, they got him in the same kind of jam, and soaked him to the tune of three hundred and eighty-six thousand.
She was married when we first met / Soon to be divorced / I helped her out of a jam, I guess / But I used a little too much force
Where, where is my common sense? / How did I get in a jam like this?
gloss: A difficult situation.
pos: noun
tags: countable
examples: The pitcher's in a jam now, having walked the bases loaded with the cleanup hitter coming to bat.
gloss: A blockage, congestion, or immobilization.
pos: noun
tags: countable
examples: a jam on the 101 South, blocking the two right lanes [radio report]
a jam of logs in a river
According to Boeing, in the history of this elevator design (which exists on all Boeing DC-9/MD-80 series and 717 model airplanes), this accident was the first notification that Boeing had received of an elevator jam occurring on an airplane exposed to ground gusts lower than 65 kts. Boeing noted that the elevator design first entered service in 1965 on the then-Douglas DC-9 airplane.
gloss: An informal, impromptu performance or rehearsal.
pos: noun
tags: common
countable
gloss: A song; a track.
pos: noun
tags: broadly
countable
informal
examples: pump up the jam
And a mix CD titled "Summer Jamz 2000." Jamz is spelled with a "z".
The result is an outstanding assortment of sophisticated, sexy and hip-hop-tinged R&B grooves, ballads and party jams.
gloss: An informal event where people brainstorm and collaborate on projects.
pos: noun
tags: broadly
countable
examples: We came up with some new ideas at the game jam.
[…] a day at new Farm Park with an art jam, fursuit games, and a nerf war, ending in the evening at the strike Wintergarden bowling center.
gloss: That which one particularly prefers, desires, enjoys, or cares about.
pos: noun
tags: countable
slang
examples: Teaching is my jam.
gloss: A forceful dunk.
pos: noun
tags: countable
gloss: A play during which points can be scored.
pos: noun
tags: countable
examples: Toughie scored four points in that jam.
gloss: Any of several manoeuvres requiring wedging of an extremity into a tight space.
pos: noun
tags: countable
examples: I used a whole series of fist and foot jams in that crack.
gloss: The tree Acacia acuminata, with fruity-smelling hard timber.
pos: noun
tags: Australia
countable
uncountable
gloss: Luck.
pos: noun
tags: UK
countable
slang
uncountable
examples: He's got more jam than Waitrose.
gloss: Balls, bollocks, courage, machismo.
pos: noun
tags: Canada
countable
slang
uncountable
examples: I don't think he has the jam.
gloss: Sexual relations or the contemplation of them.
pos: noun
tags: countable
slang
uncountable
gloss: Something enjoyable; a delightful situation or outcome.
pos: noun
tags: countable
slang
uncountable
examples: ’Tis fine to be a pretty girl, or just a gay and witty girl,
And obviously to be both is rightly counted jam,
But even more desirable, and clearly less acquirable,
Is that mysterious quality denominated glam.
gloss: To get something stuck, often (though not necessarily) in a confined space.
pos: verb
examples: My foot got jammed in a gap between the rocks.
Her poor little baby toe got jammed in the door.
I jammed the top knuckle of my ring finger.
The Ship, which by its Building was Spanish, stuck fast, jaum’d in between two Rocks; all the Stern and Quarter of her was beaten to Pieces with the Sea […]
gloss: To brusquely force something into a space; to cram, to squeeze.
pos: verb
examples: They temporarily stopped the gas tank leak by jamming a piece of taffy into the hole.
The rush-hour train was jammed with commuters.
Jamm’d in at midnight, in cold winter weather,
gloss: To render something unable to move.
pos: verb
examples: Considering the results of the CFD wind simulation, the NTSB designed several series of static and dynamic elevator load tests to determine what conditions, consistent with the known circumstances of the accident, could enable the inboard actuating crank and links of the right elevator's geared tab to move beyond their normal range of travel and become locked in an overcenter position (and, as a result, jam the right elevator).
gloss: To cause congestion or blockage. Often used with "up".
pos: verb
examples: A single accident can jam the roads for hours.
gloss: To block or confuse a radio or radar signal by transmitting a more-powerful signal on the same frequency.
pos: verb
examples: The government jams foreign propaganda broadcasts.
The airstrike suffered minimal casualties because electronic-warfare aircraft were jamming the enemy air-defense radars.
gloss: To throw a pitch at or near the batter's hands.
pos: verb
examples: Jones was jammed by the pitch.
gloss: To dunk.
pos: verb
gloss: To play music (especially improvisation as a group, or an informal unrehearsed session).
pos: verb
gloss: To injure a finger or toe by sudden compression of the digit's tip.
pos: verb
examples: When he tripped on the step he jammed his toe.
gloss: To attempt to score points.
pos: verb
examples: Toughie jammed four times in the second period.
gloss: To bring (a vessel) so close to the wind that half her upper sails are laid aback.
pos: verb
tags: transitive
examples: It won't do to jam her,” answered Stone ;" but it might be worth findin' out if th' Hope won't lie closer than t' other can." Half a point ----"
gloss: To give up on a date or some other joint endeavour; to stand up, chicken out, jam out.
pos: verb
tags: Canada
informal
gloss: To be of high quality (especially for music).
pos: verb
tags: colloquial
examples: I love this song! This song jams!
Synonyms: ram
Related words: jelly
marmalade
Derived words: finger jam
fist jam
foot jam
hand jam
ice jam
pinkie jam
ring jam
thumb-down jam
toe jam
who took the jam out of your doughnut
jam band
jammable
jammer
jam one's hype
jam on the brakes
jam up
logjam
unjam
Translations:
lang: Bulgarian
word: притесне́ние
roman: pritesnénie
lang: Danish
word: knibe
lang: Finnish
word: pula
lang: Finnish
word: pinne
lang: French
word: pétrin
lang: German
word: Patsche
lang: German
word: Klemme
lang: Italian
word: pasticcio
lang: Italian
word: guaio
lang: Norwegian Bokmål
word: vanskelighet
lang: Norwegian Bokmål
word: trøbbel
lang: Norwegian Bokmål
word: knipe ´
lang: Portuguese
word: aperto
lang: Russian
word: переплёт
roman: perepljót
lang: Spanish
word: aprieto
lang: Spanish
word: brete
lang: Spanish
word: apuro
lang: Spanish
word: lío
lang: Spanish
word: ajigolón
lang: Spanish
word: embrollo
lang: Spanish
word: candanga
lang: Swedish
word: knipa
lang: Swedish
word: trubbel
lang: Welsh
word: picil
lang: Welsh
word: strach