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[jam] /dʒæm/

noun
1.
a preserve of whole fruit, slightly crushed, boiled with sugar:
strawberry jam.
Idioms
2.
put on jam, Australian Slang. to adopt a self-important manner or use affected speech.
/dʒæm/
verb jams, jamming, jammed
1.
(transitive) to cram or wedge into or against something: to jam paper into an incinerator
2.
(transitive) to crowd or pack: cars jammed the roads
3.
to make or become stuck or locked: the switch has jammed
4.
(transitive) often foll by on. to activate suddenly (esp in the phrase jam on the brakes)
5.
(transitive) to block; congest: to jam the drain with rubbish
6.
(transitive) to crush, bruise, or squeeze; smash
7.
(radio) to prevent the clear reception of (radio communications or radar signals) by transmitting other signals on the same frequency
8.
(intransitive) (slang) to play in a jam session
noun
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
12.
See jam session
/dʒæm/
noun
1.
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
v.

“to press tightly,” also “to become wedged,” 1706, of unknown origin, perhaps a variant of champ (v.). Of a malfunction in the moving parts of machinery, by 1851. Sense of “cause interference in radio signals” is from 1914. Related: Jammed; jamming. The adverb is recorded from 1825, from the verb.
n.

“fruit preserve,” 1730s, probably a special use of jam (v.) with a sense of “crush fruit into a preserve.”

“a tight pressing between two surfaces,” 1806, from jam (v.). Jazz meaning “short, free improvised passage performed by the whole band” dates from 1929, and yielded jam session (1933); but this is perhaps from jam (n.1) in sense of “something sweet, something excellent.” Sense of “machine blockage” is from 1890, which probably led to the colloquial meaning “predicament, tight spot,” first recorded 1914.

jam (jām)
v. jammed, jam·ming, jams

modifier

: Jam bands do have styles

noun

verb

Related Terms

in a jam, jim-jam, logjam, toe jam

[all senses have some relation to the asi notion of squeezing or crushing so as to make jam]

noun

A heterosexual man

[1970s+ Homosexuals; said to be fr just a man]
see under get in a bind