jam.
A sweet mixture of fruit boiled with sugar and allowed to congeal. Often spread on bread or toast or used in jam tarts
Meaning & usage
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.
A difficult situation.
A difficult situation. 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.
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
An informal, impromptu performance or rehearsal.
A song; a track.
pump up the jam
An informal event where people brainstorm and collaborate on projects.
We came up with some new ideas at the game jam.
That which one particularly prefers, desires, enjoys, or cares about.
Teaching is my jam.
A forceful dunk.
A play during which points can be scored.
Toughie scored four points in that jam.
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.
The tree Acacia acuminata, with fruity-smelling hard timber.
Luck.
He's got more jam than Waitrose.
Balls, bollocks, courage, machismo.
I don't think he has the jam.
Sexual relations or the contemplation of them.
Something enjoyable; a delightful situation or outcome.
Where this word comes from
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.
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.
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.
To render something unable to move.
To cause congestion or blockage. Often used with "up".
A single accident can jam the roads for hours.
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.
To turn (fruit) into jam.
To add jam to; to cover with jam.
To throw a pitch at or near the batter's hands.
Jones was jammed by the pitch.
To dunk.
To play music (especially improvisation as a group, or an informal unrehearsed session).
To injure a finger or toe by sudden compression of the digit's tip.
When he tripped on the step he jammed his toe.
To attempt to score points.
Toughie jammed four times in the second period.
To bring (a vessel) so close to the wind that half her upper sails are laid aback.
To give up on a date or some other joint endeavour; to stand up, chicken out, jam out.
To be of high quality (especially for music).
I love this song! This song jams!
Where this word comes from
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.
A kind of frock for children.
Where this word comes from
Borrowed from Persian جامه (“garment”) and/or Hindustani (Hindi जामा (jāmā) / Urdu جامہ (jāma)), meaning "garment, robe". Related to pajamas and pyjamas.
Alternative form of jamb.
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Definitions, grammatical labels, IPA, etymology and examples: Wiktionary contributors, extracted by Kaikki / Wiktextract. Adapted under CC BY-SA 4.0. Selected fields and authored examples are shown; third-party quotations and audio are omitted. See contributor history.
Last enriched 2026-09-10. Definitions are in English. Romanizations are shown when supplied by the source; syllable estimates are omitted for unsupported scripts.