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/
• Homophone: jam
• Rhymes: -æm

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

Etymology

Ultimately from Ancient Greek ἴαμβος (íambos).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈjɑmb̥/

Noun

jamb (genitive jambi, partitive jambi)

1. (poetry) iamb

Declension

Declension of jamb (ÕS type 22e/riik, length gradation)
		singular	plural
nominative		jamb	jambid
accusative	nom.
	gen.	jambi
genitive			jambide
partitive		jambi	jambe jambisid
illative		jambi jambisse	jambidesse jambesse
inessive		jambis	jambides jambes
elative		jambist	jambidest jambest
allative		jambile	jambidele jambele
adessive		jambil	jambidel jambel
ablative		jambilt	jambidelt jambelt
translative		jambiks	jambideks jambeks
terminative		jambini	jambideni
essive		jambina	jambidena
abessive		jambita	jambideta
comitative		jambiga	jambidega

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

Etymology

Learned borrowing from Latin iambus.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈjamp/

• Audio:

  (file)

• Rhymes: -amp
• Syllabification: jamb

Noun

jamb m inan (related adjective jambiczny)

1. (poetry, prosody) iamb (metrical foot in verse consisting of an unstressed syllable followed by a stressed syllable)

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

Further reading

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

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

		nominative	genitive
singular	indefinite	jamb	jambs
	definite	jamben	jambens
plural	indefinite	jamber	jambers
	definite	jamberna	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)