1. trans. To press or squeeze (an object) tightly between two converging bodies or surfaces; to wedge or fix immovably in an opening, either by forcing the object in, or by the narrowing or closing in of the sides.
1719. De Foe, Crusoe, I. xiii. The Ship … stuck fast, jaum’d in between two Rocks.
1753. Washington, Jrnl., Writ. 1889, I. 38. We were jammed in the Ice, in such a Manner that we expected every Moment our Raft to sink, and ourselves to perish.
1769. Falconer, Dict. Marine (1789), X iv b. A cask, box, &c. is … said to be jammed, when it is … wedged in between weighty bodies, so as not to be dislodged without … difficulty.
1794. Rigging & Seamanship, I. 153. The blocks are … jambed up … with wedges in a clave.
1818. Scott, Hrt. Midl., ii. Wilson … jammed himself so fast, that he was unable to draw his body back again.
c. 1860. H. Stuart, Seaman’s Catech., 14. The rammer is jammed in the gun.
fig. 1865. Carlyle, Fredk. Gt., XX. i. No end to his contrivances … especially when you have him jammed into a corner.
b. To make fast by tightening.
1726. G. Roberts, Four Years Voy., 110–1. When the Shark had wholly got his Head through the Noose, to hale, and thereby jam the running Knot taut about him. Ibid. I jamm’d the Snare by a sudden Jirk of the Rope, and haled him up.
1755. Falck, Day’s Diving Vessel, 49. Run a jewel down, and jam all the sweeps amidships.
c. To block or fill up (a passage or avenue) by crowding or crushing into it.
1866. Mrs. Gaskell, Wives & Dau., I. xv. 171. Heavy box after heavy box jammed up the passage.
1868. Tennyson, Lucretius, 169. As crowds that in an hour Of civic tumult jam the doors, and bear The keepers down.
d. To bruise or crush by pressure.
1832. Marryat, N. Forster, I. xiii. 177. His hand was unfortunately severely jammed by the heel of a topmast.
1840. Spurdens, Suppl. Forby’s Voc. E. Anglia (E. D. S.), Jam, to bruise by compression. ‘He jamm’d his finger in the door.’
1880. Times, 17 Dec., 5/6. The mate got his hand jammed, and received some other slight injuries.
1882. J. B. Baker, Hist. Scarborough, 502. Two men had each a leg jammed off.
e. dial. (Eng. and U.S.) To press hard or make firm by treading, as land is trodden hard by cattle.
1787. W. Marshall, Norfolk (1795), II. Gloss. (E. D. S.), Jam, to render firm by treading; as cattle do land they are foddered on.
1890. in Cent. Dict. as U.S. dial.
2. intr. To become fixed, wedged, or held immovably; to stick fast.
1706. S. Sewall, Diary, 6 March (1879), II. 156. The Ice jam’d and made a great Damm.
1834. M. Scott, Cruise Midge, xix. (1859), 382. The sumpter-mule … came down rattling past us like a whirlwind, until she jammed between the stems of two of the cocoa-nut trees.
1848. Thoreau, Maine W. (1894), 33. Just above McCauslin’s, there is a rocky rapid, where logs jam in the spring.
1860. Merc. Marine Mag., VII. 180. The cable jammed on the windlass.
3. trans. To cause the fixing or wedging of (some movable part of a machine) so that it cannot work; to render (a machine, gun, etc.) unworkable, by such wedging, sticking or displacement.
1851. Illustr. Catal. Gt. Exhib., 362. Immediately after the first shock … the screw was jammed or locked.
1885. Pall Mall Gaz., 24 Jan., 1/2. The term ‘jammed’ … when used in connection with a machine gun means that the gun ceased to operate from some disarrangement of the parts.
1890. Times, 6 Dec., 12/4. When the extractor grips a refractory cartridge the gun is jammed.
1891. Ld. Herschell, in Law Times Rep., LXV. 593/1. Her propeller got foul of a rope, so that the shaft was jammed, and the engines could not be worked.
b. intr. Of a machine, gun, etc.: To become unworkable through the wedging, sticking or displacement of some movable part.
1885. Western Mail, 25 March, 3/6. From 5 to 25 per cent. of the rifles would jam after firing one or two rounds.
1889. Spectator, 21 Sept., 374/1. If the guns jam, the swords break, and the bayonets curl up, we cannot say that there is necessarily safety in the multitude of stores.
1892. Law Times Rep., LXVII. 251/2. [There can be no] doubt that this machinery did jam, and that it was the jamming which caused the collision.
4. trans. To press, squeeze or crowd (a number of objects) together in a compact mass; to pack with force or vigor; to force together.
1768. Wales, in Phil. Trans., LX. 112. [The ice] consisted of large pieces close jambed together.
1871. L. Stephen, Playgr. Europe, v. (1894), 121. The masses … were crumbled and jammed together so as to form a road.
1885. Manch. Exam., 14 Feb., 5/4. To jam them together in one or two rooms like sheep in a fold.
1886. R. C. Leslie, Sea-painter’s Log, x. 195. In these pockets nearly all the soles of a catch are found jambed together.
5. To thrust, ram or force violently into a confined space.
1793. Smeaton, Edystone L., § 53. A part of a chain … was jammed in so fast … that it remained so.
1841. L. Hunt, Seer (1864), 84. He has a small foot … and he would squeeze, jam, and damn it into a thimble.
1848. Dickens, Dombey, iv. Everything was jammed into the tightest cases.
1855. Chamier, My Travels, I. i. 12. All these … useless articles were jammed into a bag.
1863. Geo. Eliot, Romola, vi. Ruined porticoes and columns … jammed in confusedly among the dwellings of Christians.
1887. Sir R. H. Roberts, In the Shires, ii. 22. Hats are jammed tightly on the head.
fig. 1829. Scott, Jrnl., 19 May. I have no turn for these committees, and yet I get always jamm’d into them.
1876. G. Meredith, Beauch. Career, III. xii. 214. He wants to jam the business of two or three centuries into a life-time.
b. To thrust, push, dash or drive (anything) violently or firmly against something, or in some direction, as down, in.
1836. Boston Herald, 12 April, 1/6. He jammed her against the bannisters.
1861. Hughes, Tom Brown at Oxford, ii. (1889), 12. [He] passed close under the bows … the steersman having jammed his helm hard down.
1877. N. W. Linc. Gloss., Jaum, to strike another’s head against any hard object, such as a wall.
1887. T. N. Page, Ole Virginia (1891), 158. Polly jambed the door back and returned to his side.
Hence Jammed ppl. a., squeezed, blocked up; Jammedness, jammed condition; Jamming vbl. sb. and ppl. a.
(In first quot. the form and meaning are uncertain.)
[1617. J. Taylor (Water P.), London to Hamburgh, C iv. The chaine was shorter then the halter, by reason whereof hee was not strangled, but by the gamming of the chaine which could not slip close to his necke he hanged in great torments.]
1769. Falconer, Dict. Marine (1789), Jamming, the act of inclosing any object between two bodies, so as to render it immoveable.
1887. W. Crane, in Pall Mall Gaz., 16 Nov., 2/2. The mounted men charging into this jammed crowd every now and then.
1887. A. A. Wright, in Boston Acad., June 5. Browning’s conciseness is more than conciseness; it is jammedness.
