jamb

vertical sides of a doorway or window

Not to be confused with:

jam – fill too tightly; cram; fruit preserve

jamb

also jambe (jăm)

1. One of a pair of vertical posts or pieces that together form the sides of an opening, as for a door, window, or fireplace.

2. A projecting mass or columnar part.

[Middle English jambe, from Old French, leg, jamb, from Late Latin gamba, horse's hock, leg; see gambol.]

American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright © 2016 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

jamb

(dʒæm) or

jambe

1. (Building) a vertical side member of a doorframe, window frame, or lining

2. (Building) a vertical inside face of an opening in a wall

[C14: from Old French jambe leg, jamb, from Late Latin gamba hoof, hock, from Greek kampē joint]

Collins English Dictionary – Complete and Unabridged, 12th Edition 2014 © HarperCollins Publishers 1991, 1994, 1998, 2000, 2003, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2011, 2014

jamb

(dʒæm)

n.

a. either of the vertical sides of a doorway, window, or other opening.

b. either of two members forming the sidepieces for the frame of an opening.

[1350–1400; Middle English jambe < Middle French: leg, jamb < Late Latin gamba, variant of camba pastern, leg < Greek kampḗ bend of a limb]

ThesaurusAntonymsRelated WordsSynonymsLegend:

Noun

jamb - upright consisting of a vertical side member of a door or window frame

doorjamb, doorpost - a jamb for a door

upright, vertical - a vertical structural member as a post or stake; "the ball sailed between the uprights"

window frame - the framework that supports a window

Translations

jamba

jambage

stipite montante

jamb

[dʒæm] N → jamba f

Collins Spanish Dictionary - Complete and Unabridged 8th Edition 2005 © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1971, 1988 © HarperCollins Publishers 1992, 1993, 1996, 1997, 2000, 2003, 2005

jamb

[ˈdʒæm] n [door] → jambage mjam jar n → pot m à confiture

Collins English/French Electronic Resource. © HarperCollins Publishers 2005

jamb

n (of door/window) → (Tür-/Fenster)pfosten m

Collins German Dictionary – Complete and Unabridged 7th Edition 2005. © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1980 © HarperCollins Publishers 1991, 1997, 1999, 2004, 2005, 2007

jamb

[dʒæm] n → stipite m

Collins Italian Dictionary 1st Edition © HarperCollins Publishers 1995

Mentioned in

References in classic literature

"Why, it's little Jellia Jamb!" exclaimed the Scarecrow, as the green maiden bowed her pretty head before him.

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"Come in, please," said Jellia Jamb; "it shall be our pleasant duty to escort all of you to the rooms prepared for your use."

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The wealthiest and most important citizens of the Emerald City were proud to wait upon these famous adventurers, and they were assisted by a sprightly little maid named Jellia Jamb, whom the Scarecrow pinched upon her rosy cheeks and seemed to know very well.

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"She is with the Princess Ozma, in the private rooms of the palace," replied Jellia Jamb. "But she has ordered me to make you welcome and to show you to your apartments."

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"I will order Jellia Jamb, who is the palace housekeeper, to have rooms all prepared for them, and after breakfast we will get the Magic Belt and by its aid transport your uncle and aunt to the Emerald City."

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Dorothy was reading in a book this evening when Jellia Jamb, the favorite servant-maid of the palace, came to say that the Shaggy Man wanted to see her.

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It had been so forcibly driven against the jamb that part of the woodwork was splintered.

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Of the latter there were two of such size as to occupy, with their enormous jambs, the whole of that side of the apartment where they were placed, excepting room enough for a door or two, and a little apartment in one corner, which was protected by miniature palisades, and profusely garnished with bottles and glasses.

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Then in the long, pointed windows, glass of a thousand hues; at the wide entrances to the hall, rich doors, finely sculptured; and all, the vaults, pillars, walls, jambs, panelling, doors, statues, covered from top to bottom with a splendid blue and gold illumination, which, a trifle tarnished at the epoch when we behold it, had almost entirely disappeared beneath dust and spiders in the year of grace, 1549, when du Breul still admired it from tradition.

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the chimney jambs and all the bricks inside were very sooty, so that I thought this fire-place made a very appropriate little shrine or chapel for his Congo idol.

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Sprawling over the table with arrested pen, he glanced out of the door, and in that frame of his vision he saw all the stars flying upwards between the teakwood jambs on a black sky.

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The staircase, balustrades, and rails, had a spare look--an air of being denuded to the bone--which the panels of the walls and the jambs of the doors and windows also bore.

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