jam

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/
  • (Southern England, Australia) IPA(key): /ˈdʒæːm/
  • - fruit spread
  • - verb
  • Rhymes: -æm
  • Homophone: jamb

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.

Noun

jam (countable and uncountable, plural jams)

  1. (less common in the US) 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
  2. (countable) A difficult situation.
    Synonyms: see Thesaurus:difficult situation
  3. (countable) A blockage, congestion, or immobilization.
  4. (countable, popular music) An informal, impromptu performance or rehearsal.
  5. (countable, by extension, informal) A song; a track.
  6. (countable, by extension) An informal event where people brainstorm and collaborate on projects.
  7. (countable, slang) That which one particularly prefers, desires, enjoys, or cares about.
  8. (countable, baseball) A difficult situation for a pitcher or defending team.
  9. (countable, basketball) A forceful dunk.
  10. (countable, roller derby) A play during which points can be scored.
  11. (climbing, countable) Any of several maneuvers requiring wedging of an extremity into a tight space.
  12. (Australia) The tree Acacia acuminata, with fruity-smelling hard timber.
    Synonyms: raspberry jam tree, stinking acacia
  13. (UK, slang) Luck.
  14. (Canada, slang) balls, bollocks, courage, machismo
  15. (slang) Sexual relations or the contemplation of them.
Derived terms
Descendants
  • → Czech: džem
  • → Dutch: jam
  • → Estonian: džemm
  • → Japanese: ジャム (jamu)
  • → Korean: 잼 (jaem)
  • → Polish: dżem
  • → Russian: джем (džem)
  • → Serbo-Croatian: džȅm, џе̏м
  • → Slovak: džem
  • → Ukrainian: джем (džem)
Translations
See also
  • jelly
  • marmalade

Verb

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

  1. To get something stuck, often (though not necessarily) in a confined space.
  2. 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,[2]
      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.
  3. To render something unable to move.
  4. To cause congestion or blockage. Often used with "up".
  5. To block or confuse a radio or radar signal by transmitting a more-powerful signal on the same frequency.
  7. (baseball) To throw a pitch at or near the batter's hands.
  8. (basketball) To dunk.
  10. (music) To play music (especially improvisation as a group, or an informal unrehearsed session).
  11. To injure a finger or toe by sudden compression of the digit's tip.
  12. (roller derby) To attempt to score points.
  13. (nautical, transitive) To bring (a vessel) so close to the wind that half her upper sails are laid aback.
  14. (Canada, informal) To give up on a date or some other joint endeavour; to stand up, chicken out, jam out.
Synonyms
  • ram
Derived terms
Translations

Etymology 2

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

Noun

jam (plural jams)

  1. (dated) A kind of frock for children.

Etymology 3

Noun

jam (plural jams)

  1. (mining) Alternative form of jamb

References

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

See also

  • Ram-jam

Anagrams

  • JMA, Maj, Maj., maj, maj.

Albanian

Etymology

From Proto-Albanian *esmi, from Proto-Indo-European *h₁ésmi (“I am, I exist”), identical with Ancient Greek εἰμί (eimí), Sanskrit अस्मि (ásmi), English am. Aorist qeshë from Proto-Indo-European *kʷel- (“to turn, revolve”), with a semantic development similar to Germanic *werþaną (“to become”), from Proto-Indo-European *wert- (“to turn”).

Pronunciation

  • IPA(key): /jam/

Verb

jam (first-person singular past tense qeshë, participle qenë)

  1. to be

Conjugation

References

Baba Malay

Etymology

From Malay jam, from Sanskrit याम (yāma).

Noun

jam

  1. hour
  2. time

Further reading

  • Baba Malay Dictionary

Chinese

Etymology 1

From English jam.

Pronunciation

Verb

jam

  1. (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

  1. (Hong Kong Cantonese, university slang) to steal; to take without asking
Synonyms
  • M

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

  1. 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)

  1. (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]
  • Audio:
  • Hyphenation: jam

Adverb

jam

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

Fula

Noun

jam o

  1. (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

  1. granary, storehouse

Highland Popoluca

Noun

jam

  1. 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)‎[4] (in Spanish), Instituto Lingüístico de Verano, A.C., →ISBN, page 74

Indonesian

Etymology

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

Pronunciation

  • IPA(key): [ˈd͡ʒam]
  • Hyphenation: jam

Noun

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

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

Derived terms

Further reading

  • “jam” in Kamus Besar Bahasa Indonesia, Jakarta: Language Development and Fostering Agency — Ministry of Education, Culture, Research, and Technology of the Republic Indonesia, 2016.

Interlingua

Adverb

jam (not comparable)

  1. already

Javanese

Etymology

Ultimately from Sanskrit याम (yāma)

Noun

jam

  1. hour
  2. clock

Latgalian

Pronunciation

  • IPA(key): /ˈjam/
  • Hyphenation: jam

Pronoun

jam

  1. 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)

  1. Alternative form of iam

References

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

Lindu

Noun

jam

  1. time
  2. hour
  3. clock

Lithuanian

Pronoun

jam m

  1. (third-person singular) dative form of jis.
    • 2007, Jurga (Jurga Šeduikytė), Angelai
      Jo balti sparnai man tinka
      Jam savo šarvus dovanoju
      His white wings suit me
      I present to him my armor

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)

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

Derived terms

Descendants

  • Baba Malay: jam
  • Indonesian: jam
  • → Pattani Malay: جٍي‎ / แยฺ (jɛ)

Further reading

  • “jam” in Pusat Rujukan Persuratan Melayu | Malay Literary Reference Centre, Kuala Lumpur: Dewan Bahasa dan Pustaka, 2017.

North Frisian

Etymology

From Old Frisian jī. Cognate with West Frisian jimme.

Pronoun

jam

  1. you (plural)
  2. your (plural)

Polish

Pronunciation

  • IPA(key): /jam/
  • Rhymes: -am
  • Syllabification: jam

Noun

jam f

  1. genitive plural of jama

Pronoun

jam

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

Further reading

  • jam in Polish dictionaries at PWN

Slovene

Noun

jam

  1. genitive dual/plural of jama

Spanish

Noun

jam m (plural jams or jam)

  1. jam (music session)

Swedish

Pronunciation

  • IPA(key): /jɑːm/

Noun

jam n

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

Declension

Related terms

  • jama

Anagrams

  • Maj, maj

Welsh

Etymology

From English jam.

Pronunciation

  • IPA(key): /d͡ʒam/

Noun

jam m (plural jamiau, not mutable)

  1. jam
    Synonym: cyffaith

Further reading

  • R. J. Thomas, G. A. Bevan, P. J. Donovan, A. Hawke et al., editors (1950–present), “jam”, in Geiriadur Prifysgol Cymru Online (in Welsh), University of Wales Centre for Advanced Welsh & Celtic Studies

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)

  1. jam, fruit preserves

Alternative forms

  • sjem

Further reading

  • “jam (I)”, in Wurdboek fan de Fryske taal (in Dutch), 2011

Bookmark
share
WebDictionary.net is an Free English Dictionary containing information about the meaning, synonyms, antonyms, definitions, translations, etymology and more.

Related Words

jamie

james

jamaica

benjamin

Browse the English Dictionary

A - B - C - D - E - F - G - H - I - J - K - L - M - N - O - P - Q - R - S - T - U - V - W - X - Y - Z

License

This article based on an article on Wiktionary. The list of authors can be seen in the page history there. The original work has been modified. This article is distributed under the terms of this license.