jam

To get something stuck, often (though not necessarily) in a confined space.

Noun countable, uncommon

  1. A sweet mixture of fruit boiled with sugar and allowed to congeal. Often spread on bread or toast or used in jam tarts
    • He is allergic to jam.
    • She loves eating jam for breakfast in hotels.

    Synonyms: conserve jelly preserve

  2. A difficult situation.
    • 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. - 1928, Upton Sinclair,...
    • 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 - 1975, Bob Dylan, “Tangled Up in Blue”:
    • Where, where is my common sense? / How did I get in a jam like this? - 1977, David Byrne, “Uh-Oh, Love Comes to Town”, in Talking Heads: 77, performed by Talking Heads:

    Synonyms: ass in a sling bind bucket of syrup calvary cauldron cross cross to bear difficulty dilemma dire straits doghouse fix hole jam kettle kettle of fish ordeal pickle pinch plight predicament quandary quagmire situation

    1. (countable, baseball) A difficult situation for a pitcher or defending team.

      • The pitcher's in a jam now, having walked the bases loaded with the cleanup hitter coming to bat.

      Synonyms: ass in a sling bind bucket of syrup calvary cauldron cross cross to bear difficulty dilemma dire straits doghouse fix hole jam kettle kettle of fish ordeal pickle pinch plight predicament quandary quagmire situation

  3. A blockage, congestion, or immobilization.
    • 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...

    Synonyms: jam-up

  4. An informal, impromptu performance or rehearsal.
  5. A song; a track.
    • pump up the jam
    • And a mix CD titled "Summer Jamz 2000." Jamz is spelled with a "z". - 2025, S.E. Case, chapter 1, in Rigsby WI, volume 1: Foothold, →ISBN, retrieved 23 Aug 2025, page 16:
    • The result is an outstanding assortment of sophisticated, sexy and hip-hop-tinged R&B grooves, ballads and party jams. - 2001, Jet, volume 100, number 22, page 25:
  6. An informal event where people brainstorm and collaborate on projects.
    • 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. - 2017, Fred Patten, Furry Fandom Conventions, 1989-2015, page 92:
  7. That which one particularly prefers, desires, enjoys, or cares about.
    • Teaching is my jam.
  8. A forceful dunk.
  9. A play during which points can be scored.
    • Toughie scored four points in that jam.
  10. Any of several manoeuvres requiring wedging of an extremity into a tight space.
    • I used a whole series of fist and foot jams in that crack.
  11. The tree Acacia acuminata, with fruity-smelling hard timber.

    Synonyms: raspberry jam tree stinking acacia

  12. Luck.
    • He's got more jam than Waitrose.

Origin

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.

Forms

jams

Related

jelly marmalade

Derived

antijam game jam in a jam jam auction jam band jambox jam doughnut jam drop jamful jam jar jamjar jam joint jamless jamlike jam melon jammy jam-packed jam penny jam pitch jam pot jam rag jam rammed jam roll jam roly poly

Noun dated

  1. A kind of frock for children.

Origin

Borrowed from Persian جامه (“garment”) and/or Hindustani (Hindi जामा (jāmā) / Urdu جامہ (jāma)), meaning "garment, robe". Related to pajamas and pyjamas.

Forms

jams jama

Noun business, mining

  1. Alternative form of jamb.

Forms

jams

Related

Ram-jam

Verb

  1. To get something stuck, often (though not necessarily) in a confined space.
    • 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.
  2. To brusquely force something into a space; to cram, to squeeze.
    • 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, - 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:...
  3. To render something unable to move.
    • 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...
  4. To cause congestion or blockage. Often used with "up".
    • A single accident can jam the roads for hours.
  5. To block or confuse a radio or radar signal by transmitting a more-powerful signal on the same frequency.
    • The government jams foreign propaganda broadcasts.
    • The airstrike suffered minimal casualties because electronic-warfare aircraft were jamming the enemy air-defense radars.
  6. To throw a pitch at or near the batter's hands.
    • Jones was jammed by the pitch.
  7. To dunk.
  8. To play music (especially improvisation as a group, or an informal unrehearsed session).
  9. To injure a finger or toe by sudden compression of the digit's tip.
    • When he tripped on the step he jammed his toe.
  10. To attempt to score points.
    • Toughie jammed four times in the second period.
  11. To bring (a vessel) so close to the wind that half her upper sails are laid aback.
    • 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 ----" - (Can we date this quote?), William Clark Russell, The Golden Hope:
  12. To give up on a date or some other joint endeavour; to stand up, chicken out, jam out.

Forms

jams jamming jammed

Synonyms

ram

Derived

jam band jammable jammer jam one's hype jam on the brakes jam up logjam jam-pack unjam