jam

I. vb

1a.

to play music informally, to improvise. The phrase originally referred to loose aggregations of jazz musicians, typically playing 'after hours', later to rock and blues.

1b.

to make up an improvised rap chant. The word and the practice arose in New York in the late 1970s. Rapping, like the original jazz improvisation, took place in informally composed groups, often com-peting among themselves.

2.

American

to take part in a wild celebra-tion, to 'party'. An extension of the origi-nal musical sense of the word.

3.

American

to have sex (with). This vul-garism usually occurs in the form 'jam-ming', and is heard typically among adolescents. Slang uses of the word jam as verb or noun play on its standard sense of crush(ed) or wedge(d) together. The additional sense of sweet confection also influences the use of the word in sex-ual euphemisms.

See also jooky jam

4.

American

to move quickly, leave hur-riedly. This sense is of uncertain origin, but may refer to jamming the foot on the accelerator.

5.

American

to sniff cocaine. This use of the word presumably refers to jamming the substance up one's nose. It may alternatively refer to jam as something sweet.

II. n

1a.

a shortening of jam session, meaning a group improvisation or informal per-formance. The term was originally applied to jazz, and later to rock.

1b.

a rap session

2.

American

a party (usually a wild, crowded affair)

3a. a sex act

3b. a sexual partner (of either gender) 3c. the vagina

The many sexual sub-senses of jam are based on the two standard meanings of squeeze or wedge and something sweet.

4.

a car. A shortened version of jam jar used by younger speakers since 2000.