jam Meaning, Definition & Usage

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

Per. or Hind. jamah garment, robe.

Either fr. jamb, as if squeezed between jambs, or more likely from the same source as champ See Champ.

imperfect & past participle Jammed ; present participle & verbal noun Jamming

To press into a close or tight position; to crowd; to squeeze; to wedge in.
The . . . jammed in between two rocks. De Foe.
To crush or bruise; as, to jam a finger in the crack of a door. Colloq.
(Naut.) To bring (a vessel) so close to the wind that half her upper sails are laid aback. W. C. Russell.

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.
An injury caused by jamming. Colloq.

Prob. fr. jam, v.; but cf. also Ar. jamad ice, jelly, jamid congealed, jamd congelation, ice.

A preserve of fruit boiled with sugar and water; as, raspberry jam; currant jam; grape jam.