Nominal Forms
Infinitive: to jam
Participle: jammed
Gerund: jamming
Cognates
-
Indicative
Present
| I | jam |
| you | jam |
| he;she;it | jams |
| we | jam |
| you | jam |
| they | jam |
Perfect
| I | have jammed |
| you | have jammed |
| he;she;it | has jammed |
| we | have jammed |
| you | have jammed |
| they | have jammed |
Past
| I | jammed |
| you | jammed |
| he;she;it | jammed |
| we | jammed |
| you | jammed |
| they | jammed |
Pluperfect
| I | had jammed |
| you | had jammed |
| he;she;it | had jammed |
| we | had jammed |
| you | had jammed |
| they | had jammed |
Future
| I | will jam |
| you | will jam |
| he;she;it | will jam |
| we | will jam |
| you | will jam |
| they | will jam |
Future Perfect
| I | will have jammed |
| you | will have jammed |
| he;she;it | will have jammed |
| we | will have jammed |
| you | will have jammed |
| they | will have jammed |
Subjunctive
Present
| I | jam |
| you | jam |
| he;she;it | jam |
| we | jam |
| you | jam |
| they | jam |
Perfect
| I | have jammed |
| you | have jammed |
| he;she;it | have jammed |
| we | have jammed |
| you | have jammed |
| they | have jammed |
Imperfect
| I | jammed |
| you | jammed |
| he;she;it | jammed |
| we | jammed |
| you | jammed |
| they | jammed |
Pluperfect
| I | had jammed |
| you | had jammed |
| he;she;it | had jammed |
| we | had jammed |
| you | had jammed |
| they | had jammed |
Conditional
Present
| I | would jam |
| you | would jam |
| he;she;it | would jam |
| we | would jam |
| you | would jam |
| they | would jam |
Perfect
| I | would have jammed |
| you | would have jammed |
| he;she;it | would have jammed |
| we | would have jammed |
| you | would have jammed |
| they | would have jammed |
Imperative
| you | jam |
| we | Let's jam |
| you | jam |
Verbs conjugated like 'jam'
abet,
abhor,
abut,
acquit,
admit,
affrap,
allot,
alum,
amel,
amit,
anagram,
anvil,
apparel,
aret,
arret,
assot,
astun,
attrap,
augur,
avel, etc. (List truncated at 20 verbs)
Verbs similar to 'jam'
bam,
cam,
dam,
gam,
ham,
jab,
jag,
jamb,
jap,
jar,
Synonyms & Antonyms
Synonyms
- pack
- wedge, squeeze, ram, crush, force, crowd, mob, bruise
Antonyms
- pack
- loosen, scatter, strew, jumble
Additional Information
Phrasal Verbs
Etymology
1. "to press tightly," also "to become wedged," 1706, of unknown origin, perhaps a variant of champ (v.). Sense of "to cause interference in radio signals" is from 1914. Jazz noun meaning "short, free improvised passage performed by the whole band" dates from 1929, and yielded
jam session (1933); perhaps from jam (n.) in sense of "something sweet, something excellent." Noun sense of "machine blockage" is from 1890, which probably led to the colloquial meaning "predicament," first recorded 1914.
2. 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.
3. 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.
Verbs referencing "jam"
Finnish with old forms
jammata, Icelandic
djamma, Thai
แจม, Esperanto
ĵami, Maltese
ġġammja, Japanese
ジャムる.
Sample Sentences
-
[...] with plasters in various places. The baker is ill, and so is the pastry-cook. A new man, horribly indisposed, has been required to fill the place of the latter officer; and has been propped and jammed up with empty casks in a little house upon deck, and commanded to roll out pie-crust, which he protests (being highly bilious ) it is death to him to look at. News! A dozen murders on shore would [...]
(American Notes for General Circulation)
-
[...] the carriage suddenly rights itself with a bounce,—two front wheels go down into another abyss, and senator, woman, and child, all tumble promiscuously on to the front seat,—senator's hat is jammed over his eyes and nose quite unceremoniously, and he considers himself fairly extinguished; — child cries, and Cudjoe on the outside delivers animated addresses to the horses, who are kicking, and [...]
(Uncle Tom’s Cabin)
-
[...] of the whip. Carriage springs up, with another bounce,—down go the hind wheels,—senator, woman, and child, fly over on to the back seat, his elbows encountering her bonnet, and both her feet being jammed into his hat, which flies off in the concussion. After a few moments the “ slough ” is passed, and the horses stop, panting; — the senator finds his hat, the woman straightens her bonnet and hushes [...]
(Uncle Tom’s Cabin)