Green’s Dictionary of Slang

1. to injure, to damage by striking or crushing.

1994		D. Lehane A Drink Before the War 137: ‘Come to think of it--everyone Roland's jammed on has been male. He doesn't respond well to female authority, either, but he doesn't get violent, he just walks away’.
2001		(con. 1964–8) J. Ellroy Cold Six Thousand 438: You drive to Bon Secour then. You play backup. You jam this clown Danny Bruvick.

2. to strike hard and suddenly.

c.1850		Mrs. Cuddle’s Bed-Room Lectures (10–15) 6: Under his ribs her fist she’d poke, / And jam away like fun and smoke.
1869		C.G. Leland ‘Breitmann in Politics’ in Hans Breitmann About Town 40: Boot de ding dat jam de hardest / On de men dat bull de vires, / Und showed dat Captain Breitmann / Shtood pedween dwo heafy vires.
1873		W.H. Thomes Bushrangers 183: I thought you dead. I’ll be rammed, jammed, and hung up to dry, ef I didn’t.
1902		Ade Forty Modern Fables 285: The Saloon Men were shrieking to the Participants to Beat his Block off and Jam him in the Kisser.
1911		T.A. Dorgan in Zwilling TAD Lex. (1993) 111: The man on the floor looked as though he was dead [...] the cop rushed up and said ‘Why did you jam him —’.
1935		(con. 1920s) J.T. Farrell Judgement Day in Studs Lonigan (1936) 579: And boy, wouldn’t Studs just love to jam his fists between the rat’s eyes!

3. impoverished, out of funds.

1882

Cremorne III 77: If for one day Dick did not happen to remark that he was devilish hard up, Bob was sure to [...] complain that he was jammed most damnably.

4. to cause trouble for, to put in danger; often as jam up v. (1)

1887		Lantern (N.O.) 22 Jan. 3: Jes de same I t’ink de collars could jam him for somethin’ else.
1902		Bulletin (Sydney) 30 Aug. 14/2: Good old girl! I knowed you wouldn’t jam me. It’s that ---- on the off-side!
1925		G.S. Schuyler Yellow Peril in Hatch & Hamalian Lost Plays of Harlem Renaissance (1996) 51: I thought I told you not to come up tonight? You’re always doing something to jam me! [Ibid.] 53: You know my husband’s coming tonight and you don’t want to jam me, do you?
1928		Phila. Eve. Bulletin 5 Oct. 40/4: Here are a few more terms and definitions from the ‘Racket’ vocabulary: [...] ‘Jam,’ to compromise.
1947		J. Steinbeck Wayward Bus 105: I guess I jammed it for them.
1957		R. Prather Always Leave ’Em Dying 110: He’s in an awful jam, and you’ve got to unjam him.
1977		E. Torres Q&A 164: I’m not gonna jam myself.
2004		Simon & Price ‘All Due Respect’ Wire ser. 3 ep. 2 [TV script] Your boy really jammed me. That little prick.
2011		G. Hayward Corruption Officer [ebk] cap. 5: Just my luck I play super hero and jam myself right out of a job.
2020		D. Winslow ‘Sunset’ in Broken 206: ‘He’s jamming Duke for three hundred thou’ [ibid.] 219: ‘It won’t jam you up [...] I had a gun, I forced you to give me a board’.

5. (US) to persist forcefully.

1925

E. Hemingway letter 22 Apr. in Baker Sel. Letters (1981) 157: Christ knows I appreciate you and Sherwood jamming it through.

6. (US) to impede.

1944

C.S. Montanye ‘Shoulder Straps’ in Thrilling Detective Feb. 🌐 Hope I’m not jamming you and Dovey. I’ll only be a minute.

7. to threaten, to harass, to arrest.

1968		I. Reed Free-Lance Pallbearers 33: You jamming this ho.
1985		T.R. Houser Central Sl. 31: jam To fuck with (someone). To mess with. To bogart someone. To be arrested.

8. (US black) to confront, to fight, to overcome or defeat; to rob.

1971		H.E. Roberts Third Ear n.p.: jam […] 2. to fight.
1980		E. Folb Runnin’ Down Some Lines xx: Brothers s’pos’ be together [...] Don’t be tryin’ to jam you all d’ time.
1992		P. Earley Hot House 190: Post gave Thomas a gun and she robbed the johns herself. ‘We didn’t even bother renting a room because Glenda was jamming them right on the elevator.
2000		Other Side of the Wall: Prisoner’s Dict. July 🌐 Yanked His Coat (or Jacket): Finding out and confronting another prisoner with something he or she may be hiding. Also, ‘Jam.’.

9. (US black) to defeat verbally.

1980

E. Folb Runnin’ Down Some Lines 95: Some of the terms used to characterize verbal confrontation – to blow someone away, to jam someone [...] are the same terms used to describe physical assault.

10. in basketball, to slam the ball downward through the hoop; thus n. jam, the act of so doing.

1981		W.D. Myers Hoops 40: There’s nobody going to recover fast enough to stop me from jamming once I get the step inside the key.
1990		W.D. Myers Mouse Rap 7: He can slam, he can jam, he can do the Whimmy Wham!

11. (US) of food, to consume, to eat.

2019

D. Winslow Border [ebook] Eddie showers, gets some breakfast [...] sent up, and by the time he’s jammed that, Osvaldo has made good and sure that the courier [...] is alone and clean.