▪ I. jam, n.1
(dʒæm)
Also 9 jamb.
[f. jam v.1]
1. a. The action of jamming; the fact or condition of being jammed, or tightly packed or squeezed, so as to prevent movement; a crush, a squeeze; a mass of things or persons tightly crowded and packed together so as to prevent individual movement; a block in a confined street, river, or other passage; spec. in logging, an accumulation of logs in a river. Also attrib.
| 1805 Deb. Congress U.S. 7 Apr. 1076 Its overflowing [is] occasioned by a jam of timber choking the river. 1806–7 J. Beresford Miseries Hum. Life (1826) xv. i, To be locked up in the very heart of the most crowded of all the rooms, by that elegant jam of human kind which constitutes the great charm of your torments. 1812 H. & J. Smith Rej. Addr., Theatre 19 All is bustle, squeeze, row, jabbering, and jam. 1827 Longfellow in Life (1891) I. viii. 123, I have been several times to her evening jams; but, as it was Lent, there was no dancing. 1836 Bytown (Ottawa) Gaz. 9 June 4/3 A canoe with nine men..were engaged in taking some timber in a jam at the head of Colton's shoots. 1838 J. T. Hodge in C. T. Jackson 2nd Rep. Geol. Pub. Lands 65 In descending we find it..overgrown for miles with elder bushes, and obstructed by jams of trees. 1848 Thoreau Maine W. (1894) 3 Here is a close jam, a hard rub, at all seasons. 1858 Carlyle Fredk. Gt. x. ii. II. 592 There being a jam of carriages, and no getting forward for half the day. 1860 Chamb. Jrnl. XIV. 241 There was a jam of people. 1863 Sat. Rev. 305 There are two great centres and nuclei of jam, and crush, and obstruction. 1891 C. Roberts Adrift Amer. 83 The ‘gorge’ or ‘jamb’ was occasioned by some of these large pieces of ice getting piled in such a manner across the river as to form a sort of barrier or dam which backed the water up to a flood level. 1905 Terms Forestry & Logging (U.S. Dept. Agric. Bureau Forestry) 40 Jam, to break a, to start in motion logs which have been jammed. 1910 S. E. White Rules of Game i. xii. 69 ‘Where's the drive, doctor?’ asked the lumberman. ‘This is the jam camp,’ replied the cook. ‘The jam's upstream a mile or so.’ 1929 Encycl. Brit. XIV. 482/1 A log jam in the Montreal river, Ontario, Canada. 1955 Times 31 May 4/3 From all around the capital came reports of traffic jams. 1968 R. M. Patterson Finlay's River 32 So they made a risky crossing of the Parsnip [River] on a jam, wondering as they did so whether the ice-bridge over the deepest water would not give way beneath them. 1971 Daily Tel. (Colour Suppl.) 22 Oct. 22/1 There would be fewer frayed tempers and thus far fewer accidents—not to mention fewer jams. |
b. The tight squeezing of one or more movable parts of a machine into or against another part so that they cannot move; the blocking or stopping of a machine from this cause. Also fig., an awkward or difficult situation; trouble; = fix n. 1; freq. in phr. in a jam (colloq., orig. U.S.).
| 1890 Times 6 Dec. 12/4 The cocking tumbler can be slewed round, with a consequent jam, by a contact which a soldier in the hurry of battle would not notice. Ibid. 15/4 No jam would ensue, unless the soldier tried to use his rifle both as a single-loader and as a magazine arm at the same time. 1914 San Francisco Call 26 Oct. 7, I knew we'd get in a jam coming here. 1926 Clues Nov. 159/1, I think some one single-duked us, but if so I'll shiv the heel. There'll be plenty of jam. 1927 Wodehouse Small Bachelor vi. 93 ‘I've gone and got myself into the devil of a jam.’ ‘A position of embarrassment?’ ‘You said it!’ 1938 R. Finlayson Brown Man's Burden 81 Henare would give his whole-hearted sympathy and his last shilling to anyone in a bit of a jam. 1950 [see cleaner 2]. 1958 New Statesman 12 Apr. 459/3 He knew instinctively that in a jam it was not done to let down one's own side. |
c. attrib. and Comb. (mainly in words of the American lumber-trade), as jam-boom, a boom on a river for jamming or blocking the floating logs sent down the stream for transportation; jam-breaker, one who unfixes or breaks up a jam of floating logs (Funk, 1893); so jam-breaking (ibid.); jam-nut, an auxiliary nut screwed down upon the main nut to hold it (Webster, 1864); jam-weld (Forging), ‘a weld in which the heated ends or edges of the parts are square butted against each other and welded’ (Knight Dict. Mech. 1875).
| 1879 Lumberman's Gaz. 1 Oct., From the jam-boom to the head of the sorting works is a distance of seven miles. |
2. Jamming (of broadcasts, devices, etc.), or an instance of this. Hence ˈjam-proof a., proof against jamming. Cf. jam v.1 3 c.
| 1914 P. Vaux Sea-Salt & Cordite 129, I don't like this wireless jam! 1927 W. E. Collinson Contemp. Eng. 113 The trouble caused by jams, atmospherics, and howlings. 1964 Ann. Reg. 1963 185 It was said..that the needles in orbit round the earth could provide an inexpensive and jam-proof global communications system. 1972 Sci. Amer. June 17/1 These communications must be jam-proof; the potential attacker cannot be allowed to hope that a communications failure might prevent a retaliatory strike. |
3. [This sense may belong to jam n.2] Jazz or similar music simultaneously extemporized by a number of performers; a period of playing such music. Freq. attrib., esp. as jam session, a gathering of musicians to improvise jazz; also transf. and fig. colloq.
| 1929 Melody Maker Jan. 75/3 There are many variations on this rhythm..which make excellent breaks—or ‘jams’ as they now call them when they are taken by the whole band, the word ‘break’ being used only when it is intended to signify that it is played by one instrument or a section moving together or unaccompanied. 1933 Fortune Aug. 90/1 The jazz musicians' jam sessions where the players vie with one another in hot solos. 1935 Swing Music July 120/2 The best Chicagoans very often had ‘jam’ sessions. 1935 Vanity Fair (N.Y.) Nov. 71/3 Extremely hot ensemble improvisations are jams. 1937 Amer. Speech XII. 46/2 A jam band depends entirely on improvisation, using no written music. 1944 Theology XLVII. 278 This contemporary jam session gives enormous pleasure to the participants. But we [sc. the Church of England] have had little enough success in charming the ear of the nation to the extent of persuading it to come and join the band. 1949 Chicago Daily News 25 Mar. 33/2 One of his ambitions reportedly was to sit in on a jam session with some of our jazz musicians. 1959 R. Gant World in Jug 116 Everyone sat back to hear Mitch give a muted chorus which had them roaring again as we went into a final jam. 1967 ‘La Meri’ Spanish Dancing (ed. 2) vi. 78 Martinez called bulerias ‘the Cachucha of the gitanos’, while Argentinita described it as a ‘flamenco jam-session’. 1969 S. Greenlee Spook who sat by Door xx. 170 He..moved to the stereo. ‘Let's see if I can remember the jams you dig.’ 1972 Jazz & Blues Feb. 18/3 Several musicians told me how much they enjoyed the jam sessions. |
▪ II. jam, n.2
(dʒæm)
Also 8 giam, jamm.
[perh. a deriv. of jam v.1 in sense ‘to bruise or crush by pressure’: cf. quots. 1747, 1781 below.]
1. a. A conserve of fruit prepared by boiling it with sugar to a pulp.
| 1730–6 Bailey (folio), Jam of Cherries, Raspberries, &c. (prob. of J'aime, i.e. I love it; as Children used to say in French formerly, when they liked any Thing) a Sweetmeat. 1747 H. Glasse Cookery 286 To Make Rasberry Giam. Take a pint of this Currant Jelly, and a Quart of Rasberries, bruise them well together, set them over a slow fire [etc.]. 1755 Johnson, Jam (I know not whence derived), a conserve of fruits boiled with sugar and water. 1781 Mrs. Boscawen in Corr. Mrs. Delany Ser. ii. III. 25 The trotting of his horse will make my strawberries into jamm before they reach the hand of y{supr} fair niece. 1845 E. Acton Mod. Cookery xxi. 467 To preserve both the true flavour and the colour of fruit in jams and jellies, boil them rapidly until they are well reduced [etc.]. 1862 Mrs. H. Wood Mrs. Hallib. II. iv, Scarcely had Cyril begun to enjoy his black currant jam. |
b. transf. and fig. Something good or sweet, esp. with allusion to the use of sweets to hide the disagreeable taste of medicine, or the like; real jam, jam and fritters (slang), a real treat. Colloq. phrases: to have (or like, want) jam on it: to have, etc., something exceedingly pleasant or easy; jam tomorrow: something pleasant promised or expected for the future, esp. something that one never receives; money for jam: see money n. 6 h.
| 1871 ‘L. Carroll’ Through Looking-Glass v. 94 The rule is, jam to-morrow and jam yesterday—but never jam to-day. 1874 Hotten Slang Dict. 268 Real jam, a sporting phrase, meaning anything exceptionally good. 1882 T. A. Guthrie Vice-Versâ xiv, Ah!.. I thought you wouldn't find it all jam! 1885 Punch 3 Jan. 4/1 Without Real Jam—cash and kisses—this world is a bitterish pill. 1896 Pall Mall G. 6 Jan. 4/1 Its [a sermon's] repetition in the guise of a play could only be justified if the jam were nice enough to make us forget the powder. 1897 M. Kingsley W. Africa 295 Exposing yourself as a pot shot to ambushed natives would be jam and fritters to Mr. MacTaggart. 1919 Athenæum 8 Aug. 727/2 ‘Having jam on it’ (i.e., something nice and easy, a ‘cushy’ job). 1925 Fraser & Gibbons Soldier & Sailor Words 130 ‘You want jam on it’, i.e., You expect too much. 1936 J. Curtis Gilt Kid 23 You want jam on it, you do. 1939 A. Huxley After Many a Summer ii. iii. 201 The entire capital outlay had already been amortized, so that everything from now on would be pure jam. 1946 J. Irving Royal Navalese 99 The ironical suggestion made to a sailor already ‘moaning’ about his job—‘Do you want jam on it?’ 1951 ‘J. Wyndham’ Day of Triffids xii. 225 Just put the Americans into the jam-tomorrow-pie-in-the-sky department awhile. 1962 Listener 29 Nov. 925/1 Dr Leavis sees C. P. Snow as a gross materialist concerned only with jam tomorrow. 1970 Times 21 Feb. 6/8 Freedman says he can break even during the 10 weeks, with the jam to follow in the summer. 1972 Daily Tel. 30 Mar. 22/6 Ultramar has ever been the ‘jam tomorrow’ stock par excellence, with not a penny paid out in dividends. Instead, shareholders get scrip issues. 1973 G. Mitchell Murder of Busy Lizzie i. 14 ‘I think Greece might be a very good idea—later on.’ ‘Never jam today!’ muttered Margaret. 1974 O. Manning Rain Forest i. vi. 87 Hugh..was free to leave at six... Pedley..said: ‘You've got jam on it: walking home in the sunset.’ |
c. attrib. and Comb., as jam-boiler, jam-factory, jam-maker, jam-making, jam-pot, jam-pudding, jam-puff, jam-tart, jam-tin; jam-like adj.; jam-buttie, -butty, a butty (butty2) spread with jam; jam-jar, (a) a jar designed for holding jam; (b) rhyming slang for ‘motor-car’ (see also quot. 1943).
| 1927, 1965 Jam-buttie, butty [see butty2]. 1970 Times 29 Jan. 9/8 You could have knocked us all down with a jam buttie when she [sc. Gracie Fields] first took up with those foreigners. 1972 Observer (Colour Suppl.) 16 Jan. 17/4, I am sluggish and sapped of energy and living on an occasional ‘jam butty’. |
| 1883 ‘Annie Thomas’ Mod. Housewife 118 A kind of jam custard and pastry-pudding peculiar to the district, and known as ‘Bakewell Pudding’. |
| 1895 Army & Navy Co-op. Soc. Price List 785 [Cut glass] Jam Jar. 1902 M. Barnes-Grundy Thames Camp iv. 67 Jane went on with her jam-jar trap [for wasps]. 1934 P. Allingham Cheapjack xiii. 163 Have you got a jam-jar—a car? 1943 C. H. Ward-Jackson It's a Piece of Cake 38 Jam jars, armoured cars. 1962 R. Cook Crust on its Uppers i. 23 Parking this dreadful great orange-and-cream jamjar..slap under a no-parking sign. 1967 N. Freeling Strike Out 81 A few brushes in a jam-jar. |
| 1899 Westm. Gaz. 4 Apr. 1/3 His jam-like proposal will not make any the more palatable the powder of the Bill, which he is so anxious to see administered. |
| 1896 Daily News 19 Dec. 8/4 A firm of jam makers were ready to give 24,000l. at once for the site. |
| 1908 G. Jekyll Children & Gardens ii. 12 In the kitchen the children..learn the elements of even more serious cookery, such as jam making. 1968 P. Jennings Living Village 122 Most wives buy cakes and preserves, a few still do their own baking and jam-making. |
| 1887 Pall Mall G. 5 Sept. 3/1 His stand-up collar was of the kind which the gilded youth of London describe as a jam-pot. 1892 Daily News 16 Sept. 3/3 The new autumn bonnets have the small, high crowns known as ‘jam-pot’. |
| 1841 Thackeray Gt. Hoggarty Diam. (1849) ix. 100 My dear wife..vowed she would cook all the best dishes herself (especially jam pudding, of which..I am very fond). 1864 Sala in Daily Tel. 30 Mar., Spending their abundant green-backs..in jam-puffs— huge triangular cocked hats of pastry. 1906 E. Dyson Fact'ry 'Ands xii. 161 Gets 'is quid a week..solderin' jam-tins. 1956 Coast to Coast 1955–6 59 He had one of the jam-tins in his hand. |
2. Affected manners; self-importance; freq. in phr. to lay (or put) on jam. Austral. slang.
| 1882 Sydney Slang Dict. 5/1 Jam (putting on), assuming fast airs of importance. 1901 ‘M. Franklin’ My Brilliant Career (1966) xxvi. 159 People who knew how to conduct themselves properly, and who paid one every attention without a bit of fear of being twitted with ‘laying the jam on’. 1924 Lawrence & Skinner Boy in Bush 46 Don't y' get sidey..puttin' on jam an' suchlike. 1945 Baker Austral. Lang. vi. 119 Terms like..jam and guiver, connoting ‘side’ or affectation. |
Hence ˈjamless a., without jam.
| 1894 Cornh. Mag. May 499 She thrives..on jamless bread and butter. |
Add: [c.] jam-rag, (a) † dial., something overcooked (obs.); (b) † dial. (pl.), rags, tatters; fig., small pieces (obs.); (c) slang, a sanitary towel (cf. rag n.1 3 a).
| 1869 J. P. Morris Gloss. Words & Phr. Furness, N. Lancs. 50 *Jam-rags, anything over cooked. 1878 E. Waugh Hermit Cobbler viii. 52 Th' bakehouse wur blawn to jam-rags. a 1966 M. Bell Coll. Poems (1967) iii. 92 Strides over the moors A recalcitrant Amazon—Emily Brontë With the jam-rags on. 1992 Viz June/July (verso rear cover), The new Vispre Shadow jam rag is designed to suit your lifestyle, with a wrap-a-round gusset flap to keep the blood off your knicker elastic. |
▪ III. ‖ jam, n.3 ? Obs.
(dʒɑːm)
[f. jama1.]
A kind of dress or frock for children.
| 1793 W. Hodges Trav. India 3 This [long muslin] dress is in India usually worn both by Hindoos and Mahomedan and is called Jammah; whence the dress well known in England, and worn by children is usually called a jam. 1821 Southey in Life & Corr. (1849) I. 44, I had a fantastic costume of nankeen..trimmed with green fringe; it was called a vest and tunic, or a jam. 1879 L. Potter Lancash. Mem. 50 A little boy's dress she always called a ‘Jam’. |
▪ IV. jam, v.1
(dʒæm)
Also 8–9 jamb, dial. jaum.
[app. onomatopœic, and akin to cham, champ.]
1. trans. To press or squeeze (an object) tightly between two converging bodies or surfaces; to wedge or fix immovably in an opening, either by forcing the object in, or by the narrowing or closing in of the sides.
| 1719 De Foe Crusoe i. xiii, The Ship..stuck fast, jaum'd in between two Rocks. 1753 Washington Jrnl. Writ. 1889 I. 38 We were jammed in the Ice, in such a Manner that we expected every Moment our Raft to sink, and ourselves to perish. 1769 Falconer Dict. Marine (1789) X iv b, A cask, box, &c. is..said to be jammed, when it is..wedged in between weighty bodies, so as not to be dislodged without..difficulty. 1794 Rigging & Seamanship I. 153 The blocks are..jambed up..with wedges in a clave. 1818 Scott Hrt. Midl. ii, Wilson..jammed himself so fast, that he was unable to draw his body back again. c 1860 H. Stuart Seaman's Catech. 14 The rammer is jammed in the gun. |
| fig. 1865 Carlyle Fredk. Gt. xx. i, No end to his contrivances..especially when you have him jammed into a corner. |
b. To make fast by tightening.
| 1726 G. Roberts 4 Years Voy. 111 When the Shark had..got his Head through the Noose, to hale, and thereby jam the running knot taut about him. Ibid., I jamm'd the Snare by a sudden Jirk of the Rope, and haled him up. 1755 N. D. Falck Day's Diving Vessel 49 Run a jewel down, and jam all the sweeps amidships. |
c. To block or fill up (a passage or avenue) by crowding or crushing into it.
| 1866 Mrs. Gaskell Wives & Dau. xv. (1867) 153 Heavy box after heavy box jammed up the passage. 1868 Tennyson Lucretius 169 As crowds that in an hour Of civic tumult jam the doors, and bear The keepers down. |
d. To bruise or crush by pressure.
| 1832 Marryat N. Forster xiii, His hand was severely jammed by the heel of a topmast. 1840 Spurdens Suppl. Forby's Voc. E. Anglia (E.D.S.), Jam, to bruise by compression. ‘He jamm'd his finger in the door.’ 1880 Times 17 Dec. 5/6 The mate got his hand jammed, and received some other slight injuries. 1882 J. B. Baker Scarborough 502 Two men had each a leg jammed off. |
e. dial. (Eng. and U.S.) To press hard or make firm by treading, as land is trodden hard by cattle.
| 1787 W. Marshall Norfolk (1795) II. Gloss. (E.D.S.), Jam, to render firm by treading; as cattle do land they are foddered on. 1890 in Cent. Dict. as U.S. dial. |
2. intr. To become fixed, wedged, or held immovably; to stick fast.
| 1706 S. Sewall Diary 6 Mar. (1879) II. 156 The Ice jam'd and made a great Damm. 1834 M. Scott Cruise Midge xix. (1859) 382 The sumpter-mule..came down rattling past us like a whirlwind, until she jammed between the stems of two of the cocoa-nut trees. 1848 Thoreau Maine W. (1894) 33 Just above McCauslin's, there is a rocky rapid, where logs jam in the spring. 1860 Merc. Marine Mag. VII. 180 The cable jammed on the windlass. |
3. trans. To cause the fixing or wedging of (some movable part of a machine) so that it cannot work; to render (a machine, gun, etc.) unworkable, by such wedging, sticking, or displacement.
| 1851 Illustr. Catal. Gt. Exhib. 362 Immediately after the first shock..the screw was jammed or locked. 1885 Pall Mall G. 24 Jan. 1/2 The term ‘jammed’..when used in connection with a machine gun means that the gun ceased to operate from some disarrangement of the parts. 1890 Times 6 Dec. 12/4 When the extractor grips a refractory cartridge the gun is jammed. 1891 Ld. Herschell in Law Times Rep. LXV. 593/1 Her propeller got foul of a rope, so that the shaft was jammed, and the engines could not be worked. |
b. intr. Of a machine, gun, etc.: To become unworkable through the wedging, sticking, or displacement of some movable part.
| 1885 Manch. Exam. 25 Mar. 6/1 From five to twenty-five per cent of the rifles would jam after firing one or two rounds. 1889 Spectator 21 Sept., If the guns jam, the swords break, and the bayonets curl up, we cannot say that there is necessarily safety in the multitude of stores. 1892 Law Times Rep. LXVII. 251/2 [There can be no] doubt that this machinery did jam, and that it was the jamming which caused the collision. |
c. trans. To cause interference with (radio or radar signals) so as to render them unintelligible or useless, esp. deliberately; to prevent reception of (a transmitter or station) by such means. Also transf.
| 1914 P. Vaux Sea-Salt & Cordite 46 Communications became regularly jammed. Ibid. 47 We'll stop this jamming, wherever it's coming from. 1914 Wireless World July 246/1 Electricity in our language..is not ‘juice’; neither is radio interference ‘jamming’. 1920 Discovery Apr. 116/2 When the reception of a message is thus interfered with by other messages being sent at the same time, the message is said to be ‘jammed’. Ibid., The jamming of a message may also be caused by stray ether disturbances in the atmosphere itself. 1920 Telegraph & Telephone Jrnl. VI. 165/1 As the number of aeroplanes multiplied ‘jambing’—the great drawback of wireless—became more acute. ‘Jambing’..refers to the general mix up which results from the reception of two or more sets of signals at once in the same instrument. 1926 E. F. Spanner Naviators x. 124 The Admiral had answered the Japanese C.-in-C. by sending out jamming signals immediately the British scout had been driven down. 1939 War Illustr. 7 Oct. 126/2 Gramophone records of pledges given by Hitler in his public speeches have been broadcast from France—and jammed by the Germans! 1947 Amer. Speech XXII. 154/1 Allied bombers jammed (rendered ineffective) German radar equipment by dropping quantities of metal foil when over enemy targets. 1947 Jrnl. R. Aeronaut. Soc. LI. 432/2 We developed a jamming screen for the purpose of blinding the enemy's early warning system and so preventing him from obtaining information of our approach. 1955 Times 18 Aug. 9/2 In 1933 the Vienna transmitters were put on to jam Nazi attacks on the Dolfuss Government from the Munich transmitters. Between 1934 and the outbreak of the war the device was copied wholesale. 1959 Ann. Reg. 1958 235 Jamming of Western broadcasts continued. 1970 Daily Tel. 16 Apr. 1 The Post Office is jamming broadcasts by the pirate radio ship North Sea International. 1971 Sci. Amer. June 132/2 Any sonar can be jammed, and clever moving jammers would pretty surely beat the art of beam shaping. 1971 New Scientist 2 Sept. 536/3 In 1942 they investigated the severe jamming of army radar stations, and concluded that radio waves of amazing intensity are emitted by the Sun. |
4. trans. To press, squeeze, or crowd (a number of objects) together in a compact mass; to pack with force or vigour; to force together.
| 1768 Wales in Phil. Trans. LX. 112 [The ice] consisted of large pieces close jambed together. 1871 L. Stephen Playgr. Europe v. (1894) 121 The masses..were crumbled and jammed together so as to form a road. 1885 Manch. Exam. 14 Feb. 5/4 To jam them together in one or two rooms like sheep in a fold. 1886 R. C. Leslie Sea-painter's Log x. 195 In these pockets nearly all the soles of a catch are found jambed together. |
5. To thrust, ram, or force violently into a confined space.
| 1793 Smeaton Edystone L. §53 A part of a chain..was jammed in so fast..that it remained so. 1841 L. Hunt Seer (1864) 84 He has a small foot..and he would squeeze, jam, and damn it into a thimble. 1848 Dickens Dombey iv, Everything was jammed into the tightest cases. 1855 F. Chamier My Travels I. i. 12 All these..useless articles were jammed into a bag. 1863 Geo. Eliot Romola vi, Ruined porticoes and columns..jammed in confusedly among the dwellings of Christians. 1887 Sir R. H. Roberts In the Shires ii. 22 Hats are jammed tightly on the head. |
| fig. 1829 Scott Jrnl. 19 May, I have no turn for these committees, and yet I get always jamm'd into them. 1876 G. Meredith Beauch. Career III. xii. 214 He wants to jam the business of two or three centuries into a life-time. |
b. To thrust, push, dash, or drive (anything) violently or firmly against something, or in some direction, as down, in.
| 1836 Boston Herald 12 Apr. 1/6 He jammed her against the bannisters. 1861 Hughes Tom Brown at Oxford ii. (1889) 12 [He] passed close under the bows..the steersman having jammed his helm hard down. 1877 N.W. Linc. Gloss., Jaum, to strike another's head against any hard object, such as a wall. 1887 T. N. Page Ole Virginia (1893) 158 Polly jambed the door back, and returned to his side. |
c. To apply or put (a brake) on violently.
| 1925 Morris Owner's Manual 11 Jambing on the brakes at the last moment. |
6. intr. To play in a ‘jam’ or ‘jam session’ (see jam n.1 3); to extemporize. Also trans., to improvise (a tune, etc.). colloq. (orig. U.S.).
| 1935 Stage Sept. 46/2 Jam, to improvise hot music, usually in groups. 1936 Delineator Nov. 11/2 He just comes on in here once in a while because he likes to jam. 1951 E. Paul Springtime in Paris xi. 203 Pierre Braslavsky could sit in anywhere old-school jazzmen are jamming. 1955 L. Feather Encycl. Jazz 132 He was seen in the Norman Granz film, Jamming the Blues. 1958 R. Horricks in P. Gammond Decca Bk. Jazz ix. 115 This became an important factor in Kansas City jamming. Ibid. 117 The legendary Art Tatum loved to jam with the resident jazz musicians. 1960 Melody Maker 31 Dec. 5/3 They just wanted me to jam a blues for the fourth number. 1971 It 2–16 June 19/1 They've been jamming together at a studio in Greenwich Village. |
Hence jammed (dʒæmd) ppl. a., squeezed, blocked up; ˈjammedness, jammed condition; ˈjamming vbl. n. and ppl. a.
(In first quot. the form and meaning are uncertain.)
| [1617 J. Taylor (Water P.) London to Hamburgh C iv, The chaine was shorter then the halter, by reason whereof hee was not strangled, but by the gamming of the chaine which could not slip close to his necke he hanged in great torments.] 1769 Falconer Dict. Marine (1789), Jamming, the act of inclosing any object between two bodies, so as to render it immoveable. 1887 W. Crane in Pall Mall G. 16 Nov. 2/2 The mounted men charging into this jammed crowd every now and then. 1887 A. A. Wright in Boston Acad. June 5 Browning's conciseness is more than conciseness; it is jammedness. |
▪ V. jam, v.2 colloq.
(dʒæm)
[f. jam n.2: cf. butter vb.]
1. To spread with jam.
| 1852 Mundy Our Antipodes (1857) 130 The slices of bread looked as if they had been first jammed and then well scraped. |
2. trans. To make into jam. Hence jammed ppl. a.2; ˈjamming vbl. n.2
| 1854 Thoreau Walden 256 The cranberries,..destined to be jammed. 1905 Daily Chron. 2 Dec. 4/4 Apples, pears, plums, berries, &c. (fresh or dried, or jammed, or tinned, or bottled). 1949 Hansard Commons 16 May 12 ‘Jamming sugar’ is a term very frequently used by housewives. 1969 Islander (Victoria, B.C.) 21 Sept. 8/1 In many kitchens there is jamming, jelly and pickle making, perking. |
▪ VI. jam, adv. and a. orig. U.S.
(dʒæm)
Also jamb.
[f. jam v.1]
A. adv.
1. Closely; in close contact or with firm pressure. Often with up (against).
| 1825 J. Neal Bro. Jonathan II. 52 He had been sitting, for two or three hours,..‘jam up’ in a back seat. 1842 American Pioneer I. 184 The next moment the sloop ran jamb against it. 1852 Mrs. Stowe Uncle Tom's Cabin I. 49 ‘It'll stand, if it only keeps jam up agin de wall!’ said Mose. 1932 Kansas City (Missouri) Star 24 May 18 His Chevrolet..[ran] jam up against a house. |
2. jam up: thoroughly, perfectly, excellently; right up to; so jam-full adj.: packed full, completely filled; jam-packed adj.: tightly packed; closely crowded or squeezed together; hence (as a back-formation) jam-pack v. trans., to pack tightly, fill.
| 1835 D. Crockett Acct. Col. Crockett's Tour 192 [Andrew Jackson] went jam up for war; but the cabinet got him down to half heat. 1846 Congress. Globe 22 May 852 Their notion is that we go jam up to 54° 40{p}, and the Russians come jam down to the same. 1858 S. A. Hammett Piney Woods Tavern xiv. 146 The regular stage was jam full, and there was an extra put on, and that was jam full, and a leetle more. 1866 C. H. Smith Bill Arp 61 Linton played his part of the programme jam up. 1893 G. B. Shaw Let. 27 Apr. (1965) 392 Friday & Saturday are jam full. 1925 R. Lardner in Liberty 28 Mar. 5/1 This place is jam-packed Saturdays, from four o'clock on. 1928 Wodehouse Money for Nothing v. 96 How can you be poor, when that gallery place you showed us round yesterday is jam full of pictures worth a fortune an inch? 1936 F. Clune Roaming round Darling xxi. 214 Eventually we were jampacked in, with the ladies alternately sitting on the Poet's knees. 1938 State Jrnl. (Lincoln, Nebr.) 5 May 14 The foursome finally got a chance to try the floor of the ballroom before the crowd, which later jampacked it, got there. 1947 J. Bertram Shadow of War 262 It was jam-packed with neglected cargo. 1958 Archit. Rev. CXXIV. 383 In surprising and welcome contrast to the jam-packed streets. 1970 N. Armstrong et al. First on Moon xiii. 322 They passed the rock boxes through to me, and I handled them as if they were absolutely jampacked with rare jewels. |
B. adj. Usu. jam-up. Excellent, perfect; thorough. colloq.
| 1832 Boston Transcript 6 Aug. 1/1 Do you like jam spruce beer, Miss? 1839 F. Trollope Dom. Manners Amer. (ed. 5) 270, I must have everything jam. Ibid. 273 That's a jam gal. 1841 Southern Lit. Messenger VII. 54/2 Introduced him to the ‘jam-up little company’ in his command. 1855 T. C. Haliburton Nat. & Human Nat. II. ix. 261 In Paradise..connubial bliss, I allot was rael [sic] jam up. 1946 Mezzrow & Wolfe Really Blues i. 4, I got my first chance to play in a real man-size band, with jam-up instruments. |
▪ VII. jam
variant of jamb.