jamb

¹ American  

[jam] / dʒæm /

Or jambe

noun

jambs plural

1. Architecture, Building Trades.

   1. either of the vertical sides of a doorway, arch, window, or other opening.

   2. either of two stones, timbers, etc., forming the sidepieces for the frame of an opening.

2. Armor. greave.

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jamb ² American  

[jam] / dʒæm /

verb (used with or without object)

Obsolete.

1. an obsolete variant of jam.

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jamb British  

/ dʒæm /

noun

1. a vertical side member of a doorframe, window frame, or lining

2. a vertical inside face of an opening in a wall

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Other Word Forms

Noun Inflected Forms

• jambs
  plural

Etymology

Origin of jamb

1350–1400; Middle English jambe < Middle French: leg, jamb < Late Latin gamba, variant of camba pastern, leg < Greek kampḗ bend of a limb

Explanation

A jamb is one of the upright boards or posts that support a door or window frame. Your front door shuts securely in between two jambs. When a house builder frames a doorway, she sets two jambs at the sides of the opening, with what's called a lintel at the top. The door fits between the jambs. Windows have jambs too — if you replace your existing windows, you may need a whole new frame, including new jambs. The Old French origin is jambe, which means "pier or side post," but was originally "a leg or a shank," from the Late Latin gamba, "leg."

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

jamb jambs

The Green Party candidate running for a Senate seat in North Carolina stuck his arm between a door and its jamb.

From Salon ● Mar. 5, 2026

The 10-year-old stood outside the only home he’d ever known — a home he could traverse in total darkness, whose every floorboard and door jamb he knew like the back of his hand.

From Los Angeles Times ● Jan. 28, 2025

Gooch, a 37-year-old resident of Leavenworth, Kansas, about 25 miles northwest of Union Station, related his experiences in an Associated Press interview outside his apartment, his crutches leaning against the door jamb behind him.

From Seattle Times ● Feb. 16, 2024

When I tested the original Lockly Vision, I couldn't access the fingerprint reader as the lock butted up too close to my door jamb.

From The Verge ● Jul. 22, 2022

I jamb my thumb into the button, but can’t push hard enough.

From "The Last Cuentista" by Donna Barba Higuera

“With stone jambs and dams, we often will play with the thickness and other dimensions, so that it adds depth and volume to the bathroom space.”

From Seattle Times ● May 23, 2024

Lacking an automated connection to a monitoring service, she connects exposed wires running along jambs to a light switch.

From Salon ● Dec. 6, 2023

“I started with a little campfire and it had eyes and it was really amorphous, like going through door jambs and keyholes” he said.

From New York Times ● Jun. 20, 2023

Even if it means his leaving scratch marks on the chamber’s door jambs on the way out.

From Washington Times ● Apr. 13, 2021

Bulging tongues of ice had broken doors off their hinges, and through their splintered jambs I could see evidence of a raid: kicked- over furniture, drawers torn open, snows of paper on the floor.

From "Hollow City" by Ransom Riggs