jam

• n. 果醬；擁擠；困境；扣籃
• vt. 使堵塞；擠進，使塞滿；混雜；壓碎
• vi. 堵塞；軋住
• n. (Jam)人名；(伊朗、巴基)賈姆

詞源不詳，可能來自cram變體，塞進，強塞，引申詞義堵塞，塞車。果醬義可能來自同一詞源，即把水果壓碎制成果醬。

jam

jam: [18] The verb jam, meaning ‘press tightly together’, first appears in the early 18th century (the earliest-known unequivocal example of its transitive use is in Daniel Defoe’s Robinson Crusoe 1719: ‘The ship stuck fast, jaum’d in between two rocks’). It is not known where it came from, but it is generally assumed to be imitative or symbolic in some way of the effort of pushing.

Equally mysterious are the origins of jam the sweet substance spread on bread, which appeared around the same time. Contemporary etymologists were nonplussed (Nathan Bailey had a stab in the 1730s: ‘prob. of J’aime, i.e. I love it; as Children used to say in French formerly, when they liked any Thing’; but Dr Johnson in 1755 confessed ‘I know not whence derived’); and even today the best guess that can be made is that the word refers to the ‘jamming’ or crushing of fruit into jars.

jam (v.)

"to press tightly," also "to become wedged," 1706, of unknown origin, perhaps a variant of champ (v.). Of a malfunction in the moving parts of machinery, by 1851. Sense of "cause interference in radio signals" is from 1914. Related: Jammed; jamming. The adverb is recorded from 1825, from the verb.

jam (n.1)

"fruit preserve," 1730s, probably a special use of jam (v.) with a sense of "crush fruit into a preserve."

jam (n.2)

"a tight pressing between two surfaces," 1806, from jam (v.). Jazz meaning "short, free improvised passage performed by the whole band" dates from 1929, and yielded jam session (1933); but this is perhaps from jam (n.1) in sense of "something sweet, something excellent." Sense of "machine blockage" is from 1890, which probably led to the colloquial meaning "predicament, tight spot," first recorded 1914.

1. They were in a real jam, Bob thought glumly.

他們確實遇上麻煩了，鮑勃悶悶不樂地想。

來自柯林斯例句

2. His room was jam-packed with fruit, flowers, gifts etc.

他的房間里堆滿了水果、鮮花及禮品等。

來自柯林斯例句

3. Did she do things like bottling fruit or making jam?

她干過將水果裝瓶或做果醬之類的活計嗎？

來自柯林斯例句

4. Place them in a jam jar, porcelain bowl, or other similar container.

將它們裝入果醬罐、瓷碗或其他類似容器中。

來自柯林斯例句

5. Pickled cucumbers, jam, pickled berries, tomatoes; you name it, they've got it.

酸黃瓜、果醬、腌漿果、西紅柿，凡是你說得出的，他們都有。

來自柯林斯例句