jamb
noun
ˈjam 
1
: an upright piece or surface forming the side of an opening (as for a door, window, or fireplace)
2
: a projecting columnar part or mass
Example Sentences
Recent Examples on the Web Because the classroom door was reinforced with a steel jamb, officers were unable to kick the door in, Arredondo told the Tribune. 
Elizabeth Wolfe, CNN, 10 June 2022 Arredondo described the door to the classroom as one having a steel jamb that is designed to keep attackers in the hallways from forcing themselves in. Greg Norman, Fox News, 10 June 2022 Eileen leaned on the jamb of the living-room door and said, Well, that was weird. Sally Rooney, The New Yorker, 5 July 2021 At the same time, evidence of the heated residential market has come to her front door, as real estate agents have begun stuffing cards in the jamb of her contemporary-style house urging her to sell. New York Times, 14 May 2021 According to multiple accounts, one prisoner held it to a cell door jamb and another slammed the door, breaking it into cooking sized chunks. Carol Rosenberg, New York Times, 14 Mar. 2020 One company showed off a portable door jamb, meant to stop an attacker from entering a room. Allie Morris, Dallas News, 7 Feb. 2020 Repeat to trim the remaining casings and side jambs. Joesph Truini, Popular Mechanics, 8 Dec. 2019 Then Nucera allegedly grabbed the teenager’s head and slammed it into the door jamb, although the teen had not been struggling, according to the complaint. Marisa Iati, Washington Post, 28 Sep. 2019 See More
Elizabeth Wolfe, CNN, 10 June 2022 Arredondo described the door to the classroom as one having a steel jamb that is designed to keep attackers in the hallways from forcing themselves in. Greg Norman, Fox News, 10 June 2022 Eileen leaned on the jamb of the living-room door and said, Well, that was weird. Sally Rooney, The New Yorker, 5 July 2021 At the same time, evidence of the heated residential market has come to her front door, as real estate agents have begun stuffing cards in the jamb of her contemporary-style house urging her to sell. New York Times, 14 May 2021 According to multiple accounts, one prisoner held it to a cell door jamb and another slammed the door, breaking it into cooking sized chunks. Carol Rosenberg, New York Times, 14 Mar. 2020 One company showed off a portable door jamb, meant to stop an attacker from entering a room. Allie Morris, Dallas News, 7 Feb. 2020 Repeat to trim the remaining casings and side jambs. Joesph Truini, Popular Mechanics, 8 Dec. 2019 Then Nucera allegedly grabbed the teenager’s head and slammed it into the door jamb, although the teen had not been struggling, according to the complaint. Marisa Iati, Washington Post, 28 Sep. 2019 See More Word History
Etymology
Middle English jambe, borrowed from Anglo-French jambe, gaunbe "side post of a door or window," literally, "leg," going back to Late Latin gamba, camba "hock or upper leg of a horse," borrowed from Greek kampḗ "bend, flexion of a limb," probably going back to a European substratal base *kamp-, whence also perhaps Lithuanian kam̃pas "corner, hidden place," Latvian kampis "curved piece of wood, kettle hook," Gothic hamfs "maimed"
First Known Use
14th century, in the meaning defined at sense 1
Kids Definition
jamb
noun
ˈjam
: a vertical piece forming the side of an opening (as for a doorway)
- introspectiveness
- introspectivenesses
- introspects
- introsusception
- beat (into)
- beat (someone) to the punch
- beat (up)
- beat a dead horse
- beat a hasty retreat
- beat a path
- beat a path to your door
- beat a retreat
- beat about
- beat about the bush
- beat around the bush
- beat back
- beat board
- beat down
- beat in
- beat into
- beat it
- beat man
- beat off
- beat one to it
- beat one's brains out