• • (RP) IPA: /dʒɑː/, [d͡ʒɑː(ɹ)]
  • (GA) IPA: /dʒɑɹ/, [d͡ʒɑɹ]
  • (AU) IPA: /dʒɐː/, [d͡ʒɐː(ɹ)]

jar (plural jars)

1. (originally) An earthenware container, either with two or no handle#Noun|handles, for hold#Verb|holding oil#Noun|oil, water#Noun|water, wine, etc., or used for burial. [from late 16th c.]
2. A small, approximately cylindrical container, normally made of clay or glass#Noun|glass, for hold#Verb|holding fruit#Noun|fruit, preserve#Noun|preserves, etc., or for ornamental purposes.

   Synonyms: cruse, pot

3. A jar and its contents; as much as fill#Verb|fills such a container; a jarful.

• jorum (possibly related)

• French: pot, bocal
• German: Glas glass jar only, Gefäß
• Italian: teglia, vaso, giara
• Portuguese: jarro, jarra
• Russian: ба́нка
• Spanish: tarro, bote, frasco

jar (jars, present participle jarring; past and past participle jarred)

1. (transitive) To preserve#Verb|preserve (food) in a jar.

   Synonyms: bottle

jar

1. (countable) A clashing#Adjective|clashing or discordant set#Noun|set of sound#Noun|sounds, particularly with a quiver#Verb|quivering or vibrating quality.
2. (countable, also, figuratively) A quivering or vibrating movement or sensation resulting from something being shake#Verb|shaken or strike#Verb|struck.

   Synonyms: jolt

   • 1852 March – 1853 September​, Charles Dickens, “Closing In”, in Bleak House, London: Bradbury and Evans, […], published 1853, OCLC 999756093 ↗, page 468 ↗:

     Through the stir and motion of the commoner streets; through the roar and jar of many vehicles, many feet, many voices; with the blazing shop-lights lighting him on, the west wind blowing him on, and the crowd pressing him on; he is pitilessly urged upon his way, and nothing meets him, murmuring, "Don't go home!"

3. (countable, by extension) A sense#Noun|sense of alarm#Noun|alarm or dismay#Noun|dismay.
4. (countable, now, rare) A disagreement, a dispute#Noun|dispute, a quarrel; (uncountable) contention, discord; quarrelling#Noun|quarrelling.
   • 1590, Edmund Spenser, The Faerie Qveene. […], London: Printed [by John Wolfe] for VVilliam Ponsonbie, OCLC 960102938 ↗, book II, canto II, stanza 26, page 212 ↗:

     So loue does raine / In ſtouteſt minds, and maketh monſtrous warre; / He maketh warre, he maketh peace againe, / And yett his peace is but continuall iarre: / O miſerable men, that to him ſubject arre.

   • 1593, [William Shakespeare], Venvs and Adonis, London: Imprinted by Richard Field, […], OCLC 837166078 ↗, [verse 17 ↗]; 2nd edition, London: Imprinted by Richard Field, […], 1594, OCLC 701755207 ↗, lines [97–100]:

     I haue beene wooed, as I intreat thee now, / Euen by the ſterne, and direfull God of warre, / VVhoſe sinewy#English|ſinowie necke in battel ne'er#English|nere did bow, / VVho conquers where he comes in euery iarre; {{...}

   • 1624, Richard Pots; William Tankard; G. P.; William Simons, compiler, “Chapter XII. The Arrivall of the Third Supply.”, in John Smith, The Generall Historie of Virginia, New-England, and the Summer Isles: […], London: Printed by I[ohn] D[awson] and I[ohn] H[aviland] for Michael Sparkes, OCLC 1049014009 ↗, book 3; reprinted in The Generall Historie of Virginia, [...] (Bibliotheca Americana), Cleveland, Oh.: The World Publishing Company, 1966, OCLC 633956660 ↗, page 89 ↗:

     To redreſſe thoſe jarres and ill proceedings, the Treaſurer, Councell, and Company of Virginia, not finding that returne, and profit they expected; and them ingaged there, not having meanes to ſubſiſt of themſelues, made meanes to his Maieſtie, to call in their Commiſſion, {{...}

jar (jars, present participle jarring; past and past participle jarred)

1. (transitive) To knock#Verb|knock, shake#Verb|shake, or strike#Verb|strike sharply, especially causing a quiver#Verb|quivering or vibrate#Verb|vibrating movement.

   He hit it with a hammer, hoping he could jar it loose.

2. (transitive) To harm#Verb|harm or injure by such action.
3. (transitive, figuratively) To shock#Verb|shock or surprise#Verb|surprise.

   I think the accident jarred him, as he hasn’t got back in a car since.

4. (transitive, figuratively) To act#Verb|act in disagreement or opposition, to clash#Verb|clash, to be at odds with; to interfere; to dispute#Verb|dispute, to quarrel#Verb|quarrel.
   • 1595, Edmunde Spenser [i.e., Edmund Spenser], “[https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=iau.31858009575899;view=1up;seq=66 [Amoretti.] Sonnet XLIIII]”, in Amoretti and Epithalamion. […], London: Printed [by Peter Short] for William Ponsonby, OCLC 932931864 ↗; reprinted in Amoretti and Epithalamion (The Noel Douglas Replicas), London: Noel Douglas […], 1927, OCLC 474036557 ↗:

     When thoſe renoumed{{sic

   • 1667, John Milton, “Book V ↗”, in Paradise Lost. A Poem Written in Ten Books, London: Printed [by Samuel Simmons], and are to be sold by Peter Parker […] [a]nd by Robert Boulter […] [a]nd Matthias Walker, […], OCLC 228722708 ↗; republished as Paradise Lost in Ten Books: The Text Exactly Reproduced from the First Edition of 1667: […], London: Basil Montagu Pickering […], 1873, OCLC 230729554 ↗:

     For Orders and Degrees / Jarr not with liberty, but well conſiſt.

5. (ambitransitive) To (cause something to) give forth a rudely tremulous or quivering sound#Noun|sound; to (cause something to) sound#Verb|sound discordantly or harshly.

   The clashing notes jarred on my ears.

   • 1591, William Shakespeare, “The Second Part of Henry the Sixt, […]”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies: Published According to the True Originall Copies (First Folio), London: Printed by Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, OCLC 606515358 ↗, [Act II, scene i], page 126 ↗, column 1:

     How irkſome is this Muſick to my heart? / When ſuch Strings iarre, what hope of Harmony?

6. (intransitive) To quiver or vibrate due to being shaken or struck.
7. (intransitive, figuratively) Of the appearance, form#Noun|form, style#Noun|style, etc., of people and things: to look#Verb|look strangely different; to stand out awkwardly from its surroundings; to be incongruent.

• German: erschüttern, rütteln

• German: scheppern

jar (plural jars)

1. (computing, Java programming language) Initialism of Java archive