Forms: 4–7 iambe, 7– jamb, jambe; also 5 iamne, iawmbe, 5–6 iawme, 6 ialme, iamme, 6–7 iaumbe, iame, 7 jaume, jayme, jeame, geaum, 7–9 jam, jaum, 8–9 jaumb, jawm. [a. F. jambe = ONF. gambe, Pr. camba, Cat., It. gamba leg:—late L. gamba ‘hoof,’ in later pop. L. ‘leg’; referred by Diez to an earlier camba (as in OSp., Pr. and Sard.), from Celtic camb- crooked, bent. In senses 1, 1 b, still spelt jambe.]
1. Her. A leg; GAMB.
1725. Coats, Dict. Her., Jamb, is the French Word signifying a Leg, or Shank, and some English Heralds have made Use of it in that Sense.
1882. Cussans, Her., vi. (ed. 3), 87. A Leg, styled heraldically a Jambe, or Gambe, which is usually represented as erased, or torn from the body.
b. Armor. A leg-piece made of metal or cuir-bouilli; cf. JAMBEAU.
[c. 1386: see JAMBEAU v.rr.]
1834. Planché, Brit. Costume, 138. The greaves or jambs for the legs.
1860. Fairholt, Costume Eng. (ed. 2), 111. In the armoury of Lord Londesborough is a jambe and solloret of this era.
2. Arch. Each of the side posts of a doorway, window, or chimney-piece, upon which rests the lintel; a cheek; esp., in popular use, (pl.) the stone sides or cheeks of a fire-place.
1428. in Heath, Grocers’ Comp. (1869), 6. Unwroughte Stapylton stoone … for wyndowes, wyndow jambes and sills.
c. 1467–9. Durham Acc. Rolls (Surtees), 642. Factura unius Iambe in fenistra australi.
1501. Douglas, Pal. Hon., III. xvii. Subtill muldrie wrocht mony day agone, On Buttereis, Ialme, Pillaris and plesand springis.
1565. Golding, Ovid’s Met., XII. (1593), 284. Yet caught he upon his shoulders twaine A stone the iawme of either doore.
1584. R. Scot, Discov. Witchcr., V. i. (1886), 73. He [a mouse] was killed comming out of the hole of a jamme in a windowe.
1611. Coryat, Crudities, 303. In one of the higher chambers there is the fairest chimney for clauy and ieames that ever I saw.
1611. Cotgr., Ante,… the cheeke, or iaumbe of a doore.
1663. Gerbier, Counsel, 7. Three Inches broader than the breadth of his James and Cornish.
1719. D’Urfey, Pills (1872), VI. 142. To the Jawm of a Chimney spend I my breath.
1725. W. Halfpenny, Sound Building, 13. Door, or Window, whose Jaums … splays more or less.
1793. Smeaton, Edystone L., § 286. I set about leading the door hooks into the jambs.
1833. J. Lardner, Manuf. Metal, II. 170. The front of the stove, generally cast in a single plate, and fitting within the jambs, or chimney bottom.
1870. F. R. Wilson, Ch. Lindisf., 61. Two narrow lights … corbelled out towards the top of the jaumbs.
1889. D. C. Murray, Dangerous Catspaw, 108. She was clinging to the jamb of the door.
fig. 1848. Clough, Bothie, V. 25. Perfect as picture … Through the great granite jambs, the stream, the glen, and the mountain.
3. Each of the two side-pieces or cheeks of anything. rare.
c. 1400. Destr. Troy, 939. Jason … gyrd of his hede, Vnioynis the Iamnys þat iuste were to-gedur: Gyrd out the grete tethe. Ibid., 11114. Pirrus … flang at hir with a fyne swerd, Share of þe sheld at a shyre corner; Vnioynet the Iawmbe of þe iust arme, Þat hit light on þe laund.
1864. Rawlinson, Anc. Mon., II. vii. 62. The jambs of the spear-head were exceedingly short.
† 4. A projecting ‘wing’ of a building. Obs.
1597. in Craufurd, Univ. Edinb. (1808), 41. Thereafter the lower schoole in the south jambe was appointed for the Humanity.
c. 1600. Hist. Kennedys, in Paterson, Hist. Ayrsh. (1863), p. cxi. [They had effected a breach] in the wall of the jayme.
1793. Statist. Acc. Scot., VIII. 311. It [the Church] has a large jam, very commodious for dispensing the Sacrament.
5. A projecting columnar part of a wall; a columnar mass or pillar in a quarry or mine.
1687. Hist. Sir J. Hawkwood, xv. 33. We went down Stairs, and bolted the Door on the inside, and so hid our selves in a Nook, or behind the Geaum of the Wall, to expect the event.
a. 1825. Forby, Voc. E. Anglia, Jamb, a mass of masonry in a building, or of stone or other material in a quarry or pit, standing upright, and more or less distinct from neighbouring or adjoining parts.
1875. Knight, Dict. Mech., Jamb, a pillar of ore in a mine.
† 6. An angular turn or corner in a street or way. Obs.
1567. Fenton, Trag. Disc., 165. They came deuisynge merely together till they were at the iaumbe or torne of a streete. Ibid. (1579), Guicciard. IV. (1599), 179. Gurlin remembring that from a part or Iawme of Stampace bending towards the towne, there was a way that led to the gate of the sea.
7. Mining. A bed of clay or stone running across a mineral vein or seam.
1721. Bailey, Jam, Jamb, a thick Bed of Stone which hinders the Miners in their pursuing the Veins of Oar.
1747. Hooson, Miner’s Dict., K iij b. These Jaums are sometimes found in the Top of the Lime.
1787. Marshall, Norfolk (1795), II. Gloss. (E. D. S.), Jam, a vein or bed of marl or clay.
8. attrib. and Comb., as jamb-lining, -post, -shaft, -splay, -stone, etc.
1823. P. Nicholson, Pract. Build., Gloss. 587. Jamb-post, a post fixed on the side of a door, etc., and to which the jamb-lining is attached.
1825. J. Nicholson, Operat. Mechanic, 538. In every pier, between windows and other apertures, every alternate jamb-stone ought to go through the wall with its bed perfectly level.
1879. Sir G. Scott, Lect. Archit., I. 281. This, if the arch were made slightly segmental, would die into the jamb-splay.
1898. J. T. Fowler, Durh. Cathedr., 49. Windows … deeply recessed within, and flanked by jamb-shafts of the local Frosterley marble.
