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jam
fill too tightly; cram; fruit preserve
Not to be confused with:
jamb – vertical sides of a doorway or window
Abused, Confused, & Misused Words by Mary Embree Copyright © 2007, 2013 by Mary Embree
jam 1
(jăm)v. jammed, jam·ming, jams
v.tr.
1. To drive or wedge forcibly into a tight position: jammed the cork in the bottle.
2. To activate or apply (a brake) suddenly. Often used with on: jammed the brakes on.
3.
a. To cause to become unworkable because a part is stuck: The wrinkled paper jammed the copying machine.
b. To cause (moving parts, for example) to lock into an unworkable position: jammed the typewriter keys.
4.
a. To pack (items, for example) to excess; cram: jammed my clothes into the suitcase.
b. To fill (a container or space) to overflowing: I jammed the suitcase with clothes. Fans jammed the hallway after the concert.
5. To block, congest, or clog: a drain that was jammed by debris.
6. To crush or bruise: jam a finger.
7. Electronics To interfere with or prevent the clear reception of (broadcast signals) by electronic means.
8. Baseball To throw an inside pitch to (a batter), especially to prevent the batter from hitting the ball with the thicker part of the bat.
v.intr.
1. To become wedged or stuck: The coin jammed in the slot.
2. To become locked or stuck in an unworkable position: The computer keyboard jammed.
3. To force one's way into or through a limited space: We all jammed into the elevator.
4. Music To participate in a jam session.
5. Basketball To make a dunk shot.
n.
1. The act of jamming or the condition of being jammed.
2. A crush or congestion of people or things in a limited space: a traffic jam.
3. A trying situation. See Synonyms at predicament.
[Origin unknown.]
jam′ma·ble adj.
jam′mer n.
jam 2
(jăm)n.
A preserve made from whole fruit boiled to a pulp with sugar.
[Possibly from jam.]
jam′my adj.
American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright © 2016 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.
jam
(dʒæm)vb, jams, jamming or jammed
1. (tr) to cram or wedge into or against something: to jam paper into an incinerator.
2. (tr) to crowd or pack: cars jammed the roads.
3. to make or become stuck or locked: the switch has jammed.
4. (often foll by: on) to activate suddenly (esp in the phrase jam on the brakes)
5. (tr) to block; congest: to jam the drain with rubbish.
6. (tr) to crush, bruise, or squeeze; smash
7. (Electronics) radio to prevent the clear reception of (radio communications or radar signals) by transmitting other signals on the same frequency
8. (Jazz) (intr) slang to play in a jam session
n
9. a crowd or congestion in a confined space: a traffic jam.
10. the act of jamming or the state of being jammed
11. informal a difficult situation; predicament: to help a friend out of a jam.
[C18: probably of imitative origin; compare champ1]
ˈjammer n
jam
(dʒæm)n
1. (Cookery) a preserve containing fruit, which has been boiled with sugar until the mixture sets
2. slang something desirable: you want jam on it.
3. jam today the principle of living for the moment
[C18: perhaps from jam1 (the act of squeezing)]
Collins English Dictionary – Complete and Unabridged, 12th Edition 2014 © HarperCollins Publishers 1991, 1994, 1998, 2000, 2003, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2011, 2014
jam1
(dʒæm) v. jammed, jam•ming,
n. v.t.
1. to press or squeeze into a confined space: to jam socks into a drawer.
2. to bruise or crush by squeezing: to jam one's hand in a door.
3. to fill tightly.
4. to push or thrust violently on or against something: Jam your foot on the brake.
5. to block up by crowding: Crowds jammed the doors.
6. to put or place in position with a violent gesture (often fol. by on): He jammed on his hat.
7. to make (something) unworkable by causing parts to become stuck, displaced, etc.: to jam a lock.
8.
a. to interfere with (radio signals or the like) by sending out other signals of approximately the same frequency.
b. (of radio signals or the like) to interfere with (other signals).
9. to become stuck, wedged, blocked, etc.: This door jams easily.
10. to press or push, often violently, as into a confined space: They jammed into the elevator.
11. (of a machine, part, etc.) to become unworkable, as through the wedging or displacement of a part.
12. to participate in a jam session.
n.13. the act of jamming or the state of being jammed.
14. a mass of objects, vehicles, etc., crammed together in such a way as to severely impede movement: a traffic jam.
15. Informal. a difficult or embarrassing situation; predicament; fix: Their lying got them into a jam.
[1700–10; appar. of expressive orig.; compare champ1, dam1]
jam2
(dʒæm)n.
a preserve of slightly crushed fruit boiled with sugar.
[1720–30; perhaps identical with jam1]
jam′like`, jam′my, adj.
Jam.
Jamaica.
Random House Kernerman Webster's College Dictionary, © 2010 K Dictionaries Ltd. Copyright 2005, 1997, 1991 by Random House, Inc. All rights reserved.
Jam
a crush or squeeze; a mass of things or persons tightly crowded.Examples: jam of carriages, 1858; of humankind, 1807; of people, 1860; of tarts—Lipton, 1970; of trees, 1838; traffic jam.
Dictionary of Collective Nouns and Group Terms. Copyright 2008 The Gale Group, Inc. All rights reserved.
marmalade
– jam – jelly1. 'marmalade'
Marmalade is a sweet food made from oranges, lemons, limes, or grapefruit. In Britain, people spread it on bread or toast and eat it as part of their breakfast.
I love toast with orange marmalade.
2. 'jam' and 'jelly'
In English marmalade refers only to a food made from oranges, lemons, limes, or grapefruit. Don't use it to refer to a similar food made from other fruits, for example blackberries, strawberries, or apricots. A food like this is called jam in British English, and jam or jelly in American English.
I bought a jar of raspberry jam.
She made us jelly sandwiches.
Collins COBUILD English Usage © HarperCollins Publishers 1992, 2004, 2011, 2012
jam
Past participle: jammed
Gerund: jamming
| Imperative |
|---|
| jam |
| jam |
| Present |
|---|
| I jam |
| you jam |
| he/she/it jams |
| we jam |
| you jam |
| they jam |
| Preterite |
|---|
| I jammed |
| you jammed |
| he/she/it jammed |
| we jammed |
| you jammed |
| they jammed |
| Present Continuous |
|---|
| I am jamming |
| you are jamming |
| he/she/it is jamming |
| we are jamming |
| you are jamming |
| they are jamming |
| Present Perfect |
|---|
| I have jammed |
| you have jammed |
| he/she/it has jammed |
| we have jammed |
| you have jammed |
| they have jammed |
| Past Continuous |
|---|
| I was jamming |
| you were jamming |
| he/she/it was jamming |
| we were jamming |
| you were jamming |
| they were jamming |
| Past Perfect |
|---|
| I had jammed |
| you had jammed |
| he/she/it had jammed |
| we had jammed |
| you had jammed |
| they had jammed |
| Future |
|---|
| I will jam |
| you will jam |
| he/she/it will jam |
| we will jam |
| you will jam |
| they will jam |
| Future Perfect |
|---|
| I will have jammed |
| you will have jammed |
| he/she/it will have jammed |
| we will have jammed |
| you will have jammed |
| they will have jammed |
| Future Continuous |
|---|
| I will be jamming |
| you will be jamming |
| he/she/it will be jamming |
| we will be jamming |
| you will be jamming |
| they will be jamming |
| Present Perfect Continuous |
|---|
| I have been jamming |
| you have been jamming |
| he/she/it has been jamming |
| we have been jamming |
| you have been jamming |
| they have been jamming |
| Future Perfect Continuous |
|---|
| I will have been jamming |
| you will have been jamming |
| he/she/it will have been jamming |
| we will have been jamming |
| you will have been jamming |
| they will have been jamming |
| Past Perfect Continuous |
|---|
| I had been jamming |
| you had been jamming |
| he/she/it had been jamming |
| we had been jamming |
| you had been jamming |
| they had been jamming |
| Conditional |
|---|
| I would jam |
| you would jam |
| he/she/it would jam |
| we would jam |
| you would jam |
| they would jam |
| Past Conditional |
|---|
| I would have jammed |
| you would have jammed |
| he/she/it would have jammed |
| we would have jammed |
| you would have jammed |
| they would have jammed |
Collins English Verb Tables © HarperCollins Publishers 2011
jam
jelly
Dictionary of Unfamiliar Words by Diagram Group Copyright © 2008 by Diagram Visual Information Limited
ThesaurusAntonymsRelated WordsSynonymsLegend:
| Noun | 1. |  jam - preserve of crushed fruit strawberry jam, strawberry preserves - made with strawberries |
| 2. |  jam - informal terms for a difficult situation; "he got into a terrible fix"; "he made a muddle of his marriage"difficulty - a condition or state of affairs almost beyond one's ability to deal with and requiring great effort to bear or overcome; "grappling with financial difficulties" dog's breakfast, dog's dinner - a poor job; a mess; "they made a real dog's breakfast of that job" | |
| 3. | jam - a dense crowd of people crowd - a large number of things or people considered together; "a crowd of insects assembled around the flowers" snarl-up, traffic jam - a number of vehicles blocking one another until they can scarcely move | |
| 4. | jam - deliberate radiation or reflection of electromagnetic energy for the purpose of disrupting enemy use of electronic devices or systems ECM, electronic countermeasures - electronic warfare undertaken to prevent or reduce an enemy's effective use of the electromagnetic spectrum barrage jamming - electronic jamming over a wide range of frequencies simultaneously selective jamming, spot jamming - electronic jamming of a specific channel or frequency | |
| Verb | 1. |  jam - press tightly together or cram; "The crowd packed the auditorium"crowd together, crowd - to gather together in large numbers; "men in straw boaters and waxed mustaches crowded the verandah" |
| 2. | jam - push down forcibly; "The driver jammed the brake pedal to the floor" push, force - move with force, "He pushed the table into a corner" | |
| 3. | jam - crush or bruise; "jam a toe" bruise, contuse - injure the underlying soft tissue or bone of; "I bruised my knee" | |
| 4. |  jam - interfere with or prevent the reception of signals; "Jam the Voice of America"; "block the signals emitted by this station"cut off, disrupt, interrupt, break up - make a break in; "We interrupt the program for the following messages" barrage jam - jam an entire frequency spectrum; "During the Cold War, the Soviets routinely barrage jammed to interfere with transmissions from the West" point jam - jam a narrow band of frequencies; "We can counter point-jamming effectively" spot jam - jam a single frequency; "This operator is spot-jammed" blanket jam - jam a broad spectrum of frequencies to affect all communications in the area except for directional antenna communications | |
| 5. | jam - get stuck and immobilized; "the mechanism jammed" malfunction, misfunction - fail to function or function improperly; "the coffee maker malfunctioned" | |
| 6. |  jam - crowd or pack to capacity; "the theater was jampacked"stuff - cram into a cavity; "The child stuffed candy into his pockets" cram - put something somewhere so that the space is completely filled; "cram books into the suitcase" | |
| 7. |  jam - block passage through; "obstruct the path"barricade - prevent access to by barricading; "The street where the President lives is always barricaded" asphyxiate, suffocate, stifle, choke - impair the respiration of or obstruct the air passage of; "The foul air was slowly suffocating the children" tie up - restrain from moving or operating normally; "Traffic is tied up for miles around the bridge where the accident occurred" dam, dam up - obstruct with, or as if with, a dam; "dam the gorges of the Yangtse River" block out, screen - prevent from entering; "block out the strong sunlight" barricade, block, block up, blockade, block off, bar, stop - render unsuitable for passage; "block the way"; "barricade the streets"; "stop the busy road" clog, clog up, congest, choke off, foul, back up, choke - become or cause to become obstructed; "The leaves clog our drains in the Fall"; "The water pipe is backed up" hinder, impede - be a hindrance or obstacle to; "She is impeding the progress of our project" |
Based on WordNet 3.0, Farlex clipart collection. © 2003-2012 Princeton University, Farlex Inc.
jam
1noun preserve, jelly (U.S. & Canad.), conserve The small fruits are excellent for jam or dessert.
jam
2noun
1. tailback, queue, hold-up, bottleneck, snarl-up, line, chain, congestion, obstruction, stoppage, gridlock a nine-mile traffic jam
verb
Collins Thesaurus of the English Language – Complete and Unabridged 2nd Edition. 2002 © HarperCollins Publishers 1995, 2002
jam
verbTo fill to excess by compressing or squeezing tightly:
1. A cessation of normal activity, caused by an accident or strike, for example:
The American Heritage® Roget's Thesaurus. Copyright © 2013, 2014 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.
Translations
ضَغْط ، عَرْقَلَه، إزْدِحام السَّيْرمُرَبَّىمُرَبّى الفاكِهَهمربىوَرْطَه
džemzácpazadřít sezatarasitmarmeláda
=-marmeladeblokereforstyrrefyldei knibe
ruuhkatukosdonkkaushillojamit
pekmezdžem
dzsemgyümölcsízízlekvár
festaöngòveiti, troîningur, stíflasultatroîatroîfylla, òjappa
ジャム
잼짬
drūzmaiegrūstieķīlētiesiespiestiesprūst
pchaťpekná kašas džemomvopchať
blokiratimarmeladazatakniti se
sylttrubbeljamknipa
แยม
mứt
jam
1 [dʒæm] (Brit)
jam
2 [dʒæm]
D. CPD jam session N → jam session f (actuación improvisada de jazz, rock)
jam in VT + ADV if we can jam two more books in → si podemos introducir a la fuerza dos libros más
there were 15 people jammed in one room → había 15 personas apretadas unas contra otras en un cuarto
jam on VT + ADV
Collins Spanish Dictionary - Complete and Unabridged 8th Edition 2005 © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1971, 1988 © HarperCollins Publishers 1992, 1993, 1996, 1997, 2000, 2003, 2005
jam
[ˈdʒæm]
vi
Collins English/French Electronic Resource. © HarperCollins Publishers 2005
jam
:
jam
:
jam pot
n → Marmeladentöpfchen nt
jam puff
n → Blätterteigteilchen nt → mit Marmelade
jam tart
n → Marmeladenkuchen m, → Marmeladentörtchen nt
jam
1
jam
2
Collins German Dictionary – Complete and Unabridged 7th Edition 2005. © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1980 © HarperCollins Publishers 1991, 1997, 1999, 2004, 2005, 2007
Collins Italian Dictionary 1st Edition © HarperCollins Publishers 1995
jam1
(dʒӕm) nouna thick sticky substance made of fruit etc preserved by being boiled with sugar. raspberry jam; (also adjective) a jam sandwich.
jammy adjectivecovered with jam. jammy fingers.
jam2
(dʒӕm) – past tense, past participle jammed – verb1. to crowd full. The gateway was jammed with angry people.
2. to squeeze, press or wedge tightly or firmly. He jammed his foot in the doorway.
3. to stick and (cause to) be unable to move. The door / steering-wheel has jammed.
4. (of a radio station) to cause interference with (another radio station's broadcast) by sending out signals on a similar wavelength.
noun1. a crowding together of vehicles, people etc so that movement is difficult or impossible. traffic-jams.
2. a difficult situation. I'm in a bit of a jam – I haven't got enough money to pay for this meal.
jam onto put (brakes etc) on with force and haste. When the dog ran in front of his car he jammed on his brakes and skidded.
Kernerman English Multilingual Dictionary © 2006-2013 K Dictionaries Ltd.
jam
→ مُرَبَّى džem syltetøj Marmelade μαρμελάδα confitura, mermelada ruuhka confiture pekmez marmellata ジャム 잼 jam trengsel dżem geleia джем sylt แยม reçel mứt 果酱Multilingual Translator © HarperCollins Publishers 2009