Adjacent Words

Jam definitions

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Webster's 1828 Dictionary

JAM, n. A conserve of fruits boiled with sugar and water.
1. A kind of frock for children.
JAM, v.t.
1. To press; to crowd; to wedge in.
2. In England, to tread hard or make firm by treading, as land by cattle.
JAM

WordNet (r) 3.0 (2005)

n
1: preserve of crushed fruit
2: informal terms for a difficult situation; "he got into a terrible fix"; "he made a muddle of his marriage" [syn: fix, hole, jam, mess, muddle, pickle, kettle of fish]
3: a dense crowd of people [syn: crush, jam, press]
4: deliberate radiation or reflection of electromagnetic energy for the purpose of disrupting enemy use of electronic devices or systems [syn: jamming, electronic jamming, jam] v
1: press tightly together or cram; "The crowd packed the auditorium" [syn: throng, mob, pack, pile, jam]
2: push down forcibly; "The driver jammed the brake pedal to the floor"
3: crush or bruise; "jam a toe" [syn: jam, crush]
4: interfere with or prevent the reception of signals; "Jam the Voice of America"; "block the signals emitted by this station" [syn: jam, block]
5: get stuck and immobilized; "the mechanism jammed"
6: crowd or pack to capacity; "the theater was jampacked" [syn: jam, jampack, ram, chock up, cram, wad]
7: block passage through; "obstruct the path" [syn: obstruct, obturate, impede, occlude, jam, block, close up] [ant: disengage, free]

Merriam Webster's

abbreviation Jamaica

Merriam Webster's

I. verb (jammed; jamming) Etymology: origin unknown Date: 1706 intransitive verb 1. a. to become blocked or wedged b. to become unworkable through the jamming of a movable part 2. to force one's way into a restricted space 3. to take part in a jam session 4. dunk 2 transitive verb 1. a. to press into a close or tight position <jam his hat on> b. (1) to cause to become wedged so as to be unworkable <jam the typewriter keys> (2) to make unworkable by jamming c. to block passage of ; obstruct d. to fill often to excess ; pack <the crowd jammed the theater> 2. to push forcibly; especially to apply (brakes) suddenly and forcibly — used with on 3. crush, bruise 4. a. to make unintelligible by sending out interfering signals or messages b. to make (as a radar apparatus) ineffective by jamming signals or by causing reflection of radar waves 5. to block, crowd, or bump (a pass receiver) near the line of scrimmage in football 6. to pitch inside to (a batter) • jammer noun II. noun Date: 1805 1. a. an act or instance of jamming b. a crowded mass that impedes or blocks <a traffic jam> 2. a. the quality or state of being jammed b. the pressure or congestion of a crowd ; crush 3. a difficult state of affairs ; fix <got into a jam> 4. jam session 5. dunk shot 6. slang a musical piece III. noun Etymology: probably from ¹jam Date: circa 1736 a food made by boiling fruit and sugar to a thick consistency • jammy adjective

Oxford Reference Dictionary

1. v. & n. --v.tr. & intr. (jammed, jamming) 1 a tr. (usu. foll. by into) squeeze or wedge into a space. b intr. become wedged. 2 a tr. cause (machinery or a component) to become wedged or immovable so that it cannot work. b intr. become jammed in this way. 3 tr. push or cram together in a compact mass. 4 intr. (foll. by in, on to) push or crowd (they jammed on to the bus). 5 tr. a block (a passage, road, etc.) by crowding or obstructing. b (foll. by in) obstruct the exit of (we were jammed in). 6 tr. (usu. foll. by on) apply (brakes etc.) forcefully or abruptly. 7 tr. make (a radio transmission) unintelligible by causing interference. 8 colloq. (in jazz etc.) extemporize with other musicians. --n. 1 a squeeze or crush. 2 a crowded mass (traffic jam). 3 colloq. an awkward situation or predicament. 4 a stoppage (of a machine etc.) due to jamming. 5 (in full jam session) colloq. improvised playing by a group of jazz musicians. Phrases and idioms: jam-packed colloq. full to capacity. Derivatives: jammer n. Etymology: imit. 2. n. & v. --n. 1 a conserve of fruit and sugar boiled to a thick consistency. 2 Brit. colloq. something easy or pleasant (money for jam). --v.tr. (jammed, jamming) 1 spread jam on. 2 make (fruit etc.) into jam. Phrases and idioms: jam tomorrow a pleasant thing often promised but usu. never forthcoming. Etymology: perh. = JAM(1)

Webster's 1913 Dictionary

Jam Jam, n. (Mining) See Jamb.

Webster's 1913 Dictionary

Jam Jam, v. t. [imp. & p. p. Jammed; p. pr. & vb. n. Jamming.] [Either fr. jamb, as if squeezed between jambs, or more likely from the same source as champ See Champ.] 1. To press into a close or tight position; to crowd; to squeeze; to wedge in. The . . . jammed in between two rocks. --De Foe. 2. To crush or bruise; as, to jam a finger in the crack of a door. [Colloq.] 3. (Naut.) To bring (a vessel) so close to the wind that half her upper sails are laid aback. --W. C. Russell.

Webster's 1913 Dictionary

Jam Jam, n. 1. A mass of people or objects crowded together; also, the pressure from a crowd; a crush; as, a jam in a street; a jam of logs in a river. 2. An injury caused by jamming. [Colloq.]

Webster's 1913 Dictionary

Jam Jam, n. [Per. or Hind. j[=a]mah garment, robe.] A kind of frock for children.

Webster's 1913 Dictionary

Jam Jam, n. [Prob. fr. jam, v.; but cf. also Ar. jamad ice, jelly, j[=a]mid congealed, jamd congelation, ice.] A preserve of fruit boiled with sugar and water; as, raspberry jam; currant jam; grape jam. Jam nut. See Check nut, under Check. Jam weld (Forging), a butt weld. See under Butt.

Collin's Cobuild Dictionary

(jams, jamming, jammed) 1. Jam is a thick sweet food that is made by cooking fruit with a large amount of sugar, and that is usually spread on bread. (mainly BRIT; in AM, usually use jelly) ...home-made jam. N-MASS 2. If you jam something somewhere, you push or put it there roughly. He picked his cap up off the ground and jammed it on his head... Pete jammed his hands into his pockets. VERB: V n prep, V n prep 3. If something such as a part of a machine jams, or if something jams it, the part becomes fixed in position and is unable to move freely or work properly. The second time he fired his gun jammed... A rope jammed the boat's propeller... Cracks appeared in the wall and a door jammed shut... The intake valve was jammed open... Every few minutes the motor cut out as the machinery became jammed. VERB: V, V n, V adj, be V-ed adj, V-ed, also V n adj 4. If vehicles jam a road, there are so many of them that they cannot move. Hundreds of departing motorists jammed the roads. VERB: V n • Jam is also a noun. Trucks sat in a jam for ten hours waiting to cross the bridge. N-COUNT • jammed Nearby roads and the dirt track to the beach were jammed with cars. ADJ: oft ADJ with n 5. If a lot of people jam a place, or jam into a place, they are pressed tightly together so that they can hardly move. Hundreds of people jammed the boardwalk to watch... They jammed into buses provided by the Red Cross and headed for safety. = cram VERB: V n, V into n • jammed The stadium was jammed and they had to turn away hundreds of disappointed fans. = packed ADJ 6. To jam a radio or electronic signal means to interfere with it and prevent it from being received or heard clearly. They will try to jam the transmissions electronically. VERB: V n • jamming The plane is used for electronic jamming and radar detection. N-UNCOUNT: usu with supp 7. If callers are jamming telephone lines, there are so many callers that the people answering the telephones find it difficult to deal with them all. Hundreds of callers jammed the BBC switchboard for more than an hour... VERB: V n 8. When jazz or rock musicians are jamming, they are informally playing music that has not been written down or planned in advance. (INFORMAL) He was jamming with his saxophone. VERB: V • Jam is also a noun. ...a jam session. N-COUNT 9. see also traffic jam

Soule's Dictionary of English Synonyms

I. v. a. Press, crowd, squeeze tight. II. n. 1. Conserve (boiled in mass), thick preserve. 2. Pressure (from a crowd), crowding. 3. Crowd, throng, pack, press, mass of people (crowded together).

Foolish Dictionary

A pantry composition in A minor.

Moby Thesaurus

Great Mogul, Jell-O, Mogul, a mass of, a world of, abound with, afterthought, albumen, arch dam, army, articulate, assault, backstop, baffle, bafflement, bamboo curtain, bank, bar, barrage, barricade, barrier, batten, batten down, batter, be alive with, beam, bear, bear upon, bear-trap dam, bearings, beaver dam, bed, bevy, bewilderment, bind, blancmange, blank wall, blind alley, blind gut, block, block up, blockade, blockage, bolt, bonnyclabber, boom, boost, bother, bottleneck, box, breakwater, breastwork, brick wall, brim, bristle with, buck, buckle, buffer, bulkhead, bull, bulldoze, bulwark, bump, bump against, bunch, bung, bunt, bureaucratic delay, burst with, butt, butt against, butter, button, candy, case, catch, caulk, cecum, charge, chink, chock, choke, choke off, choke up, choking, choking off, circumstance, clabber, clasp, cleat, clip, clog, clog up, close, close off, close tight, close up, cloud, cluster, clutch, clutter, cofferdam, cohue, comfit, compact, complication, compote, compress, concentrate, condense, condition, confection, confectionery, confirm, confiture, confoundment, confusion, congest, congestion, conserve, consolidate, constipate, constipation, constrict, cork, corner, cornstarch, costiveness, cover, covey, cram, crawl with, cream, creep with, crowd, crunch, crush, cul-de-sac, curd, dam, dam up, dead end, debar, deep-dye, defense, define, delay, delayage, delayed reaction, deluge, densen, densify, detention, dig, dike, dilemma, discomposure, disconcert, disconcertedness, disconcertion, disconcertment, disturbance, ditch, dog, double take, dough, dovetail, dragging, drench, drive, drown out, earthwork, egg white, elbow, embankment, embarrassing position, embarrassment, embed, embolism, embolus, engraft, engrave, enigma, entrench, establish, estate, etch, fence, fill, fill to overflowing, fill up, fine how-do-you-do, fix, flight, flock, flocks, flood, footing, force, foul, found, freight, frosting, galaxy, gate, gaum, gel, gelatin, glair, glaze, glop, glue, glut, gluten, gluttonize, goad, goo, gook, goop, gorge, gravity dam, groin, ground, gruel, gumbo, gunk, hail, halt, hang-up, hasp, heap, hell to pay, hindrance, hinge, hitch, hive, hobble, holdup, hole, honey, hook, horde, host, hot water, how-do-you-do, hurtle, hustle, hydraulic-fill dam, icing, imbroglio, impact, impasse, impediment, implant, impress, imprint, infarct, infarction, infix, ingrain, inscribe, interim, iron curtain, jab, jam-pack, jell, jelly, jetty, jog, joggle, joint, jolt, jostle, lade, lag, lagging, large amount, latch, leaping weir, legion, levee, load, loblolly, location, lock, lodge, logjam, lot, lots, maharaja, many, marmalade, mass, masses of, meringue, mess, milldam, miter, mix, moat, mob, modality, mode, molasses, mole, morass, moratorium, mortise, mound, mousse, muchness, mucilage, mucus, multiply, multitude, mystery, nail, nest, nizam, nonplus, nudge, numbers, obstacle, obstipate, obstipation, obstruct, obstruction, occlude, outroar, outshout, overburden, overcharge, overfeed, overfill, overflow with, overlade, overload, overpower, overstuff, overweight, overwhelm, pack, pad, pang, panoply, pap, paperasserie, parapet, parlous straits, pass, paste, pause, peg, perplexity, perturbation, pickle, pile drive, pin, pinch, place, plant, plight, plug, plug up, plurality, poke, porridge, portcullis, position, posture, pother, predicament, preserve, press, pretty pass, pretty pickle, pretty predicament, print, problem, prod, pudding, pullulate with, pulp, punch, puree, push, putty, puzzle, puzzlement, quagmire, quandary, quantities, quicksand, quite a few, rabbet, rabble, radiate, raja, ram, ram down, ram in, rampart, rana, rank, rattle, red tape, red-tapeism, red-tapery, reprieve, respite, retardance, retardation, riddle, rivet, roadblock, rob, rock-fill dam, root, rout, ruck, run, run against, satiate, saturate, scores, scrape, screw, sealing off, seat, seawall, semifluid, semiliquid, send, set, set in, settle, sew, shake, shoal, shoulder, shout down, shove, shut off, shut out, shut tight, shutter dam, situation, size, skewer, slough, slow-up, slowdown, slowness, snap, soak, solidify, soup, spate, spile, spot, squab, squash, squeeze, squeeze shut, squish, stamp, stanch, standing, staple, starch, state, station, status, stay, stay of execution, stench, stereotype, stew, stick, stick fast, sticky mess, sticky wicket, stifle, stitch, stone wall, stop, stop up, stoppage, stopper, stopple, strait, straits, strangle, strangulate, strangulation, stress, strike root, stuff, stuff up, suffocate, supercharge, supersaturate, surcharge, surfeit, suspension, swamp, swarm, swarm with, sweet, sweet stuff, sweetmeat, sweets, syrup, tack, take root, tamp, teem with, throng, throng with, thrust, tidy sum, tie-up, tight spot, tight squeeze, tightrope, time lag, toggle, top off, transmit, treacle, tricky spot, tutti-frutti, unassuredness, unholy mess, upset, wad, wait, wall, wedge, weight, weir, whipped cream, wicket dam, work, worlds of, zipper