jamb

English

Alternative forms

• jaum (obsolete)

Etymology

From Middle English jambe, jaumbe, from Old French jambe (“leg”), from Late Latin gamba (“hock, shank, leg, thigh”), from Ancient Greek καμπή (kampḗ, “turning post, bend or flexure”). Doublet of gam, gamb, gamba, and jambe.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /d͡ʒæm/
• Rhymes: -æm
• Homophone: jam

Noun

jamb (plural jambs)

1. (architecture, interior decorating, carpentry) Either of the vertical components that form the side of an opening in a wall, such as that of a door frame, window frame, or fireplace.
2. (mining) Any thick mass of rock that prevents miners from following the lode or vein.
3. Synonym of jambeau (“piece of armor for the leg”).
   • 1842, S.R. Meyrick, A Critical Inquiry Into Antient Armour, as it Existed in Europe, Particularly in Great Britain, from the Norman Conquest to the Reign of King Charles II: Ill. by a Series of Illuminated Engravings : with a Glossary of Military Terms of the Middle Ages, page 51:

     Wyntoun, in his Chronicle, mentions an encounter betwixt Lindsay and a Highlander, whom he had pierced with his lance, but who, while on the ground, cut at him with his twohanded sword, and, striking through his steel jambs  […]

   • 1889, Frank Cowper, The Captain of the Wight: A Romance of Carisbrooke Castle in 1488, page 257:

     The light of the moon gleamed on his steel helmet, his globular corslet, and the taces cuisses, or thigh pieces, and steel jambs which protected his legs.

   • 1907, Surrey Archaeological Society, Surrey Archaeological Collections: Relating to the History and Antiquities of the County, page 42:

     The arms are additionally protected by plate armour - arrière bras with epaules or roundels at the shoulders, and similar […] The steel poleyns below this are large and fully formed, and below them are steel jambs, or greaves ...

   • 1980, Wolfram Eschenbach, Parzival, Penguin UK, →ISBN:

     Each was wearing a surcoat either of brocade or samite. They were still wearing their steel jambs, but their other armour had been removed from them. There can be no more sleeping. The King and Queen rose, a priest sang Mass.

Alternative forms

• (armor): jambe

Hypernyms

• frame

Hyponyms

• (architecture): doorjamb, doorpost

Coordinate terms

• lintel
• sill

Derived terms

• doorjamb
• strike jamb

Translations

vertical component that form the side of an opening in a wall

• Bashkir: яңаҡ (yañaq)
• Catalan: brancal (ca) m
• Czech: ostění n
• Esperanto: fosto, pordfosto
• Finnish: pieli (fi)
• French: jambage (fr) m
• Galician: ucheira (gl) f, tranqueiro (gl) m, umbreira f, nembro m, xamba (gl) f
• Georgian: წირთხლი (ფანჯრის) (c̣irtxli (panǯris)), ამყოლი(კარის) (amq̇oli(ḳaris))
• German: Türpfosten (de) m
• Greek: κάσα (el) f (kása)
• Irish: ursain f

  Old Irish: airsa f

• Latvian: stendere (lv) f
• Macedonian: до́вратник m (dóvratnik)
• Maori: tuturu, whakawai
• Polish: węgar (pl) m, węgarek m
• Portuguese: ombreira (pt) f
• Russian: кося́к (ru) m (kosják)
• Spanish: jamba (es) f, marco (es)
• Ukrainian: одвірок m (odvirok)

Verb

jamb (third-person singular simple present jambs, present participle jambing, simple past and past participle jambed)

1. (transitive) To fix or attach a jamb to.

Estonian

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈjɑmb̥/

Noun

jamb (genitive [please provide], partitive [please provide])

1. (poetry) iamb

Declension

This noun needs an inflection-table template.

Further reading

• jamb in Sõnaveeb (Eesti Keele Instituut)
• “jamb”, in [EKSS] Eesti keele seletav sõnaraamat [Descriptive Dictionary of the Estonian Language] (in Estonian) (online version), Tallinn: Eesti Keele Sihtasutus (Estonian Language Foundation), 2009
• “jamb”, in [ÕS] Eesti õigekeelsussõnaraamat ÕS 2018 [Estonian Spelling Dictionary] (in Estonian) (online version), Tallinn: Eesti Keele Sihtasutus (Estonian Language Foundation), 2018, →ISBN

Polish

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /jamp/

• Audio

  (file)

• Rhymes: -amp
• Syllabification: jamb

Noun

jamb m inan

1. (poetry) iamb

Declension

Declension of jamb

	singular	plural
nominative	jamb	jamby
genitive	jambu	jambów
dative	jambowi	jambom
accusative	jamb	jamby
instrumental	jambem	jambami
locative	jambie	jambach
vocative	jambie	jamby

Related terms

• jambiczny

 

Further reading

• jamb in Wielki słownik języka polskiego, Instytut Języka Polskiego PAN
• jamb in Polish dictionaries at PWN

Serbo-Croatian

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /jâmb/

Noun

jȁmb m (Cyrillic spelling ја̏мб)

1. iamb

Declension

Declension of jamb

	singular	plural
nominative	jȁmb	jambi
genitive	jamba	jȃmbā
dative	jambu	jambima
accusative	jamb	jambe
vocative	jambe	jambi
locative	jambu	jambima
instrumental	jambom	jambima

Swedish

Etymology

Borrowed from Ancient Greek ἲαμβος (ìambos).

Noun

jamb c

1. iamb

Declension

Declension of jamb
	Singular		Plural
	Indefinite	Definite	Indefinite	Definite
Nominative	jamb	jamben	jamber	jamberna
Genitive	jambs	jambens	jambers	jambernas

Coordinate terms

• troké

Related terms

• jambisk

References

• jamb in Svenska Akademiens ordlista (SAOL)
• jamb in Svensk ordbok (SO)
• jamb in Svenska Akademiens ordbok (SAOB)