jam

synonyms, antonyms, definitions, examples & translations of jam in English

English Online Dictionary. What means jam‎? What does jam mean?

English

Pronunciation

(Received Pronunciation, US) IPA^(key): /ˈd͡ʒæm/
(æ-tensing) IPA^(key): [ˈd͡ʒeəm]
(Southern England, General Australian) IPA^(key): /ˈdʒæːm/
Homophone: jamb
Rhymes: -æm

Etymology 1

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.

Noun

jam (countable and uncountable, plural jams)

(less common in the US and Canada) A sweet mixture of fruit boiled with sugar and allowed to congeal. Often spread on bread or toast or used in jam tarts.
Synonyms: (US) conserve, jelly, preserve
(countable) A difficult situation.
Synonyms: see Thesaurus:difficult situation
1. (countable, baseball) A difficult situation for a pitcher or defending team.
(countable) A blockage, congestion, or immobilization.
Synonym: jam-up

Hyponyms: paper jam, traffic jam
(countable, popular music) An informal, impromptu performance or rehearsal.
(countable, by extension, informal) A song; a track.
(countable, by extension) An informal event where people brainstorm and collaborate on projects.
(countable, slang) That which one particularly prefers, desires, enjoys, or cares about.
(countable, basketball) A forceful dunk.
(countable, roller derby) A play during which points can be scored.
(climbing, countable) Any of several maneuvers requiring wedging of an extremity into a tight space.
(Australia) The tree Acacia acuminata, with fruity-smelling hard timber.
Synonyms: raspberry jam tree, stinking acacia
(UK, slang) Luck.
(Canada, slang) balls, bollocks, courage, machismo
(slang) Sexual relations or the contemplation of them.

Derived terms

Descendants

→ Armenian: ջեմ (ǰem)
→ Azerbaijani: cem
→ Belarusian: джэм (džem)
→ Bengali: জ্যাম (jêm)
→ Bulgarian: джем (džem)
→ Cantonese: 占 (zim1, zem1)
→ Czech: džem
→ Dutch: jam
→ Estonian: džemm
→ Finnish: jamit
→ French: jam
→ Georgian: ჯემი (ǯemi)
→ Hindi: जाम (jām)
→ Japanese: ジャム (jamu)
→ Kazakh: джем (djem)
→ Korean: 잼 (jaem)
→ Kyrgyz: джем (djem)
→ Macedonian: џем (džem)
→ Malay: jem
→ Polish: dżem
→ Romanian: gem
→ Russian: джем (džem)
→ Saanich: ĆÁM
→ Serbo-Croatian:
- Latin script: džȅm
- Cyrillic script: џе̏м
→ Sinhalese: ජෑම් (jǣm)
→ Slovak: džem
→ Swahili: jemu
→ Swedish: jam
→ Tajik: джем (džem)
→ Thai: แยม (yɛɛm)
→ Ukrainian: джем (džem)
→ Urdu: جام (jām)
→ Welsh: jam

Translations

Verb

jam (third-person singular simple present jams, present participle jamming, simple past and past participle jammed)

To get something stuck, often (though not necessarily) in a confined space.
To brusquely force something into a space; to cram, to squeeze.
- 1779, George Colman, Farewell Epilogue, spoken at Wynnstay after the representation of Cymbeline and The Spanish Barber, 22 January, 1779, in Prose on Several Occasions: Accompanied with Some Pieces in Verse, London: T. Cadel, 1787, Volume 3, p. 283,^[3]
  Since the new post-horse tax, I dare engage
  
  That some folks here have travell’d in the Stage:
  
  Jamm’d in at midnight, in cold winter weather,
  
  The crouded passengers are glew’d together.
To render something unable to move.
To cause congestion or blockage. Often used with "up".
To block or confuse a radio or radar signal by transmitting a more-powerful signal on the same frequency.
(baseball) To throw a pitch at or near the batter's hands.
(basketball) To dunk.
(music) To play music (especially improvisation as a group, or an informal unrehearsed session).
To injure a finger or toe by sudden compression of the digit's tip.
(roller derby) To attempt to score points.
(nautical, transitive) To bring (a vessel) so close to the wind that half her upper sails are laid aback.
(Canada, informal) To give up on a date or some other joint endeavour; to stand up, chicken out, jam out.
(colloquial) To be of high quality.

Synonyms

Derived terms

Translations

Etymology 2

From Persian or Hindi, meaning "garment, robe;" see (“garment”). Related to pajamas.

Noun

jam (plural jams)

(dated) A kind of frock for children.

Etymology 3

Noun

jam (plural jams)

(mining) Alternative form of jamb

References

jam on Wikipedia.Wikipedia
“jam”, in OneLook Dictionary Search.
“jam”, in The Century Dictionary […], New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., 1911, →OCLC.

Anagrams

JMA, Maj, Maj., maj, maj.

Albanian

Alternative forms

jom — Kosovo

Etymology

Inherited from Proto-Indo-European *h₁ésmi (“to be, exist”). The forms in qe- may derive from Proto-Indo-European *kʷel- (“to turn, revolve”), whence also Ancient Greek πέλω (pélō, “to be”).

Pronunciation

IPA^(key): /ˈjam/
Rhymes: -am

Verb

jam (aorist qeshë, participle qenë)

to be
1. Indicates a quality or identity.
  Është e bukur. ― She is beautiful.
  
  Si je? ― How are you?
  
  S'është për ty. ― It is not for you.
2. Indicates location.
  Synonym: gjendem
  
  Jam në shtëpi. ― I am at home.
  
  Janë jeshta. ― They are out.
  
  Ku je? ― Where are you?
3. (intransitive) to live, stay alive
  Synonyms: rroj, jetoj, gjëllij
4. to be from, come from [with nga]
  Synonyms: vij, rrjedh
  
  Jemi nga Shqipëria. ― We are from Albania.
  
  Nga je? ― Where are you from?
5. to support, agree with [with me]
  Synonyms: pajtohem, përkrah
  
  Jam me ty. ― I agree with you.
6. (third person) to happen, take place, occur
  Synonyms: ndodh, ngjan, bëhet
7. (third person) there be
  Synonym: ka
  
  Janë mjaft. ― There are enough.
8. Followed by gerunds, forms the present continuous.
  Isha duke lexuar. ― I was reading.

Conjugation

References

Baba Malay

Etymology

From Malay jam, from Sanskrit याम (yāma).

Noun

jam

hour
time

Chinese

Etymology 1

From English jam.

Pronunciation

Verb

jam

(Hong Kong Cantonese) to jam (to play music)

Derived terms

References

English Loanwords in Hong Kong Cantonese

Etymology 2

(This etymology is missing or incomplete. Please add to it, or discuss it at the Etymology scriptorium.)

Pronunciation

Verb

jam

(Hong Kong Cantonese, university slang) to nab; to take without asking

Synonyms

Related terms

占 (zim1, zem1, “jam”)

Czech

Etymology

Borrowed from Portuguese inhame or Spanish iñame, both likely of West African origin.

Noun

jam m inan

yam (any Dioscorea vine)

Declension

This noun needs an inflection-table template.

Dutch

Etymology

Borrowed from English jam.

Pronunciation

IPA^(key): /ʒɛm/
Hyphenation: jam
Rhymes: -ɛm

Noun

jam m (plural jams, diminutive jammetje n)

(chiefly Netherlands) jam (congealed sweet mixture of conserved fruits)

Synonyms

confituur
marmelade

Derived terms

aardbeienjam
jampot
kersenjam

Descendants

→ Caribbean Javanese: sèm

Esperanto

Etymology

Borrowed from Latin iam.

Pronunciation

IPA^(key): [jam]
Hyphenation: jam

Adverb

jam

already, prior to some time
Ŝi jam nutris la bestojn. ― She already fed the animals.

Fula

Noun

jam o

(Pulaar, Maasina) peace

References

M. Niang, Pulaar-English English-Pulaar Standard Dictionary, New York: Hippocrene Books, 1997.
Richard Smith, Urs Niggli, Dictionnaire fulfulde - anglais - français, Webonary.org, SIL International, 2016.

Garo

Etymology

(This etymology is missing or incomplete. Please add to it, or discuss it at the Etymology scriptorium.)

Noun

jam

granary, storehouse

Highland Popoluca

Noun

jam

lime

References

Elson, Benjamin F., Gutiérrez G., Donaciano (1999) Diccionario popoluca de la Sierra, Veracruz (Serie de vocabularios y diccionarios indígenas “Mariano Silva y Aceves”; 41)‎^[6] (in Spanish), Instituto Lingüístico de Verano, A.C., →ISBN, page 74

Iban

Etymology

From Sanskrit याम (yāma, “time”).

Pronunciation

IPA^(key): [d͡ʒam]
Hyphenation: jam

Noun

jam

hour (Time period of sixty minutes)
clock (instrument to measure or keep track of time)
time

Indonesian

Alternative forms

djam (pre-1947, 1947-1972)

Etymology

From Malay jam, from Sanskrit याम (yāma, “time”).

Pronunciation

IPA^(key): /ˈd͡ʒam/, [ˈd͡ʒam]
Hyphenation: jam

Noun

jam (first-person possessive jamku, second-person possessive jammu, third-person possessive jamnya)

hour (Time period of sixty minutes)
clock (instrument to measure or keep track of time)
(colloquial) time, particular moment or hour; the appropriate moment or hour for something
Synonyms: pukul, saat, waktu

Derived terms

Interlingua

Adverb

jam (not comparable)

already

Javanese

Romanization

jam

Romanization of ꦗꦩ꧀

Latgalian

Pronunciation

IPA^(key): /ˈjam/
Hyphenation: jam

Pronoun

jam

dative singular of jis
Es jam atsaceju par reizi. ― I replied to him right away.

Jam daguoja laistīs paceli nu sātys. ― He had to leave his home.

Vys jam nazkas natai. ― He's never satisfied. (literally, “It's never good enough for him.”)

References

Nicole Nau (2011) A short grammar of Latgalian, München: LINCOM GmbH, →ISBN, page 37

Latin

Adverb

jam (not comparable)

Alternative form of iam

References

“jam”, in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879) A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press

Lindu

Noun

jam

time
hour
clock

Lithuanian

Pronoun

jam m

third-person singular dative of jis
- 2007, Jurga (Jurga Šeduikytė), Angelai

Malay

Etymology

From Sanskrit याम (yāma, “time”).

Pronunciation

IPA^(key): [d͡ʒam]
Rhymes: -d͡ʒam, -am

Noun

jam (Jawi spelling جم, plural jam-jam, informal 1st possessive jamku, 2nd possessive jammu, 3rd possessive jamnya)

hour (Time period of sixty minutes)
clock (instrument to measure or keep track of time)

Derived terms

Descendants

Baba Malay: jam
Indonesian: jam
→ Iban: jam
→ Javanese: ꦗꦩ꧀ (jam)
→ Pattani Malay: جٍي / แยฺ (jɛ)

North Frisian

Etymology

Compare West Frisian jimme.

Pronoun

jam

(Föhr-Amrum, Mooring) second-person plural personal pronoun
1. you, you all (subject case)
2. you, yourselves (object case)
(Sylt, optionally also in Mooring) Object case of ja: them, themselves

Alternative forms

(you [subject]): 'm (reduced form), i (Sylt)
(you [object]): juu (Sylt)
(them): 's (reduced form), jo (Föhr-Amrum)

Polish

Pronunciation

IPA^(key): /ˈjam/
Rhymes: -am
Syllabification: jam

Noun

jam f

genitive plural of jama

Pronoun

jam

(informal, sometimes proscribed) Combined form of ja + -m

Slovene

Noun

jam

genitive dual/plural of jama

Spanish

Noun

jam m (plural jams or jam)

jam (music session)

Swedish

Pronunciation

IPA^(key): /jɑːm/

Noun

jam n

meow (sound of a cat)
Synonym: (more common) mjau

Declension

Related terms

jama

Anagrams

Maj, maj

Uzbek

Etymology

Borrowed from Arabic جَمْع (jamʕ). Compare Turkish cem.

Adjective

jam (comparative jamroq, superlative eng jam)

addition, plus, total

Derived terms

jamlamoq

Welsh

Etymology

From English jam.

Pronunciation

IPA^(key): /d͡ʒam/

Noun

jam m (plural jamiau, not mutable)

jam
Synonym: cyffaith

West Frisian

Etymology

(This etymology is missing or incomplete. Please add to it, or discuss it at the Etymology scriptorium.)

Noun

jam c (plural jams)

jam, fruit preserves

Alternative forms

sjem

jam

jam

English

Pronunciation

Etymology 1

Noun

Derived terms

Descendants

Translations

See also

Verb

Synonyms

Derived terms

Translations

Etymology 2

Noun

Etymology 3

Noun

References

See also

Anagrams

Albanian

Alternative forms

Etymology

Pronunciation

Verb

Conjugation

References

Further reading

Baba Malay

Etymology

Noun

Further reading

Chinese

Etymology 1

Pronunciation

Verb

Derived terms

References

Etymology 2

Pronunciation

Verb

Synonyms

Related terms

Czech

Etymology

Noun

Declension

Dutch

Etymology

Pronunciation

Noun

Synonyms

Derived terms

Descendants

Esperanto

Etymology

Pronunciation

Adverb

Fula

Noun

References

Garo

Etymology

Noun

Highland Popoluca

Noun

References

Iban

Etymology

Pronunciation

Noun

Indonesian

Alternative forms

Etymology

Pronunciation

Noun

Derived terms

Further reading

Interlingua