Also 8 giam, jamm. [perh. a deriv. of JAM v.1 in sense ‘to bruise or crush by pressure’: cf. quots. 1747, 1781 below.]
A conserve of fruit prepared by boiling it with sugar to a pulp.
1730–6. Bailey (folio), Jam of Cherries, Raspberries, &c. (prob. of Jaime, i. e. I love it; as Children used to say in French formerly, when they liked any Thing) a Sweetmeat.
1747. Mrs. Glasse, Cookery, 286. To Make Rasberry Giam. Take a pint of this Currant Jelly, and a Quart of Rasberries, bruise them well together, set them over a slow fire [etc.].
1755. Johnson, Jam (I know not whence derived), a conserve of fruits boiled with sugar and water.
1781. Mrs. Boscawen, in Corr. Mrs. Delany, Ser. II. III. 25. The trotting of his horse will make my strawberries into jamm before they reach the hand of yr fair niece.
1845. Eliza Acton, Mod. Cookery, xxi. 467. To preserve both the true flavour and the colour of fruit in jams and jellies, boil them rapidly until they are well reduced [etc.].
1862. Mrs. H. Wood, Mrs. Hallib., II. iv. Scarcely had Cyril begun to enjoy his black currant jam.
b. transf. and fig. Something good or sweet, esp. with allusion to the use of sweets to hide the disagreeable taste of medicine, or the like; real jam, jam and fritters (slang), a real treat.
1882. T. A. Guthrie, Vice Versâ, xiv. Ah!… I thought you wouldn’t find it all jam!
1885. Punch, 3 Jan., 4/1. Without Real Jam—cash and kisses—this world is a bitterish pill.
1896. Pall Mall Gaz., 6 Jan., 4/1. Its [a sermon’s] repetition in the guise of a play could only be justified if the jam were nice enough to make us forget the powder.
1897. Mary Kingsley, W. Africa, 295. Exposing yourself as a pot shot to ambushed natives would be jam and fritters to Mr. MacTaggart.
c. attrib. and Comb., as jam-boiler, -factory, -maker, -making, -pot, -puff, -tart; jam-like adj.
1864. Sala, in Daily Tel., 30 March. The soldiers are … spending their abundant greenbacks … in jam-puffs—huge triangular cocked hats of pastry.
1883. ‘Annie Thomas,’ Mod. Housewife, 118. A kind of jam custard and pastry pudding peculiar to the district, and known as ‘Bakewell Pudding.’
1887. Pall Mall Gaz., 5 Sept., 3/1. His stand-up collar was of the kind which the gilded youth of London describe as a jam-pot.
1892. Daily News, 16 Sept., 3/3. The new autumn bonnets have the small, high crowns known as ‘jam-pot.’
1896. Daily News, 19 Dec., 8/4. A firm of jam makers were ready to give 24,000l. at once for the site.
1899. Westm. Gaz., 4 April, 1/3. His jam-like proposal will not make any the more palatable the powder of the Bill, which he is so anxious to see administered.
Hence Jamless a., without jam.
1888. Freeman’s Jrnl. (Sydney), 21 Jan., 14/1. A ‘lone lorn creature,’ crawling off to his bread-and-jamless home.
1894. [H. S. Merriman & S. G. Tallentyre], in Cornh. Mag., May, 499. She thrives, anyhow, amazingly on jamless bread and butter.
