jamming

1. 1
   verb

   Present participle and gerund of jam.

   The device kept jamming the enemy's radio signals during the operation.

   Jamming with the band every Friday helped her unwind after work.

   Note

   The -ing form doubles the final consonant, as short verbs ending in a single vowel and consonant do: jam, jamming, jammed. It carries every use of the verb, from a drawer stuck fast to a radio signal drowned out or a pitch thrown in at the batter's hands. The same spelling also serves as the noun for a blockage and as a slang word of praise.

2. 2
   noununcountable

   The act or process of becoming stuck, or of being forced so tightly into place that movement stops.

   Repeated jamming of the rifle cost the soldiers valuable seconds in the firefight.

   The jamming of the conveyor belt forced the factory to pause production.

   Similarstoppage, blockage, sticking, seizing

   Note

   The noun covers interference as readily as mechanical failure. When broadcasts are limited by constant jamming, someone is sending a stronger signal on the same frequency to drown them out. It is usually uncountable (constant jamming, repeated jamming), but the plural jammings is available when separate incidents are counted.

3. 3
   noununcountable

   The playing of music in a spontaneous, improvised way, often alongside other musicians.

   The jamming went on until well past midnight, long after the venue closed.

   She learned more from jamming with seasoned players than from any lesson.

   Similarimprovisation, improvising

4. 4
   adjectiveslang

   Excellent; really good or impressive.

   Everyone said the festival was jamming this year, with one great act after another.

   We found a jamming little diner just off the highway.

   Similargreat, excellent, awesome, rocking, terrific

   Oppositelame, awful, terrible, dull

   Note

   Slang of enthusiastic approval, at home in casual talk and out of place in formal writing. Cupcake Brown's A piece of cake (2006) catches its voice: "it sho was a jamming party!" It works before a noun (a jamming party) or after a verb (the festival was jamming). It compares with more and most rather than -er: more jamming, most jamming.

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