jam

Meaning

1. A sweet mixture of fruit boiled with sugar and allowed to congeal. Often spread on bread or toast or used in jam tarts.
2. A difficult situation.
3. A difficult situation.
4. A blockage, congestion, or immobilization.
5. An informal, impromptu performance or rehearsal.
6. (informal) A song; a track.
7. An informal event where people brainstorm and collaborate on projects.
8. (slang) That which one particularly prefers, desires, enjoys, or cares about.
9. A forceful dunk.
10. A play during which points can be scored.
11. Any of several maneuvers requiring wedging of an extremity into a tight space.
12. The tree Acacia acuminata, with fruity-smelling hard timber.
13. (slang) Luck.
14. (slang) balls, bollocks, courage, machismo
15. (slang) Sexual relations or the contemplation of them.

cram

marmelade

get stuck

electronic jamming

chock up

wedge in

berry juice

fruit jelly

intrude on

pozzy

fruit spread

hold tightly

dead-head

library paste

bayonet lock

card jam

sugar-coated fruit

sugar - preserved fruit

mashpotatoe

congest crowd

extemporise extemporize

mash…

íz

dam up

Frequency

Pronounced as (IPA)

/ˈd͡ʒæm/

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.

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