• • (RP) IPA: /dʒɑː/, [d͡ʒɑː(ɹ)]
  • (America) IPA: /d͡ʒɑɹ/, [d͡ʒɑɹ]
  • (Australia) IPA: /dʒɐː/, [d͡ʒɐː(ɹ)]

From Middle English jarre, from Medieval Latin jarra, or from Middle French jarre (from Old French jare; modern French jarre), or from Spanish jarra, jarro ("jug, pitcher; mug, stein"), all from Arabic جَرَّة.

The word is cognate with Italian giara, Occitan jarro, Portuguese jarra, jarro ("jug; ewer, pitcher").

The verb is derived from the noun.

jar (plural jars)

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

   Synonyms: cruse, pot

3. A jar and its contents; as much as fills such a container; a jarful.
4. (British, Irish, colloquial) A pint glass
5. (British, Irish, colloquial, metonymy) A glass of beer or cider, served by the pint.

• jorum (possibly related)

• German: Krug, Becher, Topf
• Italian: vaso, giara

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

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

1. (transitive) To preserve (food) in a jar.

   Synonyms: bottle

From earlier jar, jur, jarre, jurre, of uncertain origin.

jar

1. (countable) A clashing or discordant set of sounds, particularly with a quivering or vibrating quality.
2. (countable, also, figuratively) A quivering or vibrating movement or sensation resulting from something being shaken or struck.

   Synonyms: jolt

   • c. 1610–1611 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Winters Tale”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC ↗, [Act I, scene ii]:

     [...] yet (good-deed) Leontes,
     I loue thee not a Iarre o'th' Clock, behind
     What Lady she her Lord. You'le stay?
     

   • 1852 March – 1853 September, Charles Dickens, “Closing In”, in Bleak House, London: Bradbury and Evans, […], published 1853, →OCLC ↗, 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!"

   • 1908, G[ilbert] K[eith] Chesterton, The Man Who Was Thursday: A Nightmare, Bristol: J[ames] W[illiams] Arrowsmith, […]; London: Simpkin, Marshall, Hamilton, Kent & Company, →OCLC ↗, page 258 ↗:

     The next instant the automobile had come with a catastrophic jar against an iron object.

3. (countable, by extension) A sense of alarm or dismay.
4. (countable) The effect of something contradictory or discordant; a clash.
5. (countable, now, rare) A disagreement, a dispute, a quarrel; (uncountable) contention, discord; quarrelling.
   • 1590, Edmund Spenser, “Book II, Canto II”, in The Faerie Queene. […], London: […] [John Wolfe] for William Ponsonbie, →OCLC ↗, 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.

   • 1594, [William Shakespeare], Venus and Adonis, 2nd edition, London: […] Richard Field, […], →OCLC ↗, [verse 17 ↗], lines [97–100]:

     I haue beene wooed, as I intreat thee now, / Euen by the ſterne, and direfull God of warre, / VVhoſe ſinowie necke in battel 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 Iohn Smith, The Generall Historie of Virginia, New-England, and the Summer Isles: […], London: […] I[ohn] D[awson] and I[ohn] H[aviland] for Michael Sparkes, →OCLC ↗, book 3; reprinted in The Generall Historie of Virginia, [...] (Bibliotheca Americana), Cleveland, Oh.: The World Publishing Company, 1966, →OCLC ↗, 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, […]

• German: Ruck, Erschütterung

• German: Schock

• German: Zusammenprall

• German: Auseinandersetzung, Streit

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

1. (transitive) To knock, shake, or strike sharply, especially causing a quivering or vibrating movement.

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

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

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

4. (transitive, figuratively) To act in disagreement or opposition, to clash, to be at odds with; to interfere; to dispute, to quarrel.
   • 1595, Edmunde Spenser [i.e., Edmund Spenser], “[Amoretti.] Sonnet XLIIII”, in Amoretti and Epithalamion. […], London: […] [Peter Short] for William Ponsonby, →OCLC ↗, signature [C7], verso ↗:

     VVhen thoſe renoumed^{[sic – meaning renowned]} noble Peres of Greece, / thrugh ſtubborn pride amongſt theſelues did iar / forgetfull of the famous golden fleece, / then Orpheus vvith his harp theyr ſtrife did bar.

   • 1667, John Milton, “Book V”, in Paradise Lost. […], London: […] [Samuel Simmons], and are to be sold by Peter Parker […]; [a]nd by Robert Boulter […]; [a]nd Matthias Walker, […], →OCLC ↗; republished as Paradise Lost in Ten Books: […], London: Basil Montagu Pickering […], 1873, →OCLC ↗:

     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; to (cause something to) sound discordantly or harshly.

   The clashing notes jarred on my ears.

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

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

   • 1680, Horace, translated by Earl of Roscommon [i.e., Wentworth Dillon, 4th Earl of Roscommon], Horace's Art of Poetry. […], London: […] Henry Herringman […], →OCLC ↗, page 24 ↗:

     Be not too rigidly Cenſorious, / A ſtring may jarr in the beſt Maſters hand, / And the moſt skilfull Archer miſs his aim; / But in a Poem elegantly writ, / I will not quarrel with a ſlight miſtake, / Such as our Natures frailty may excuſe; [...]

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

• German: erschüttern, rütteln

• German: scheppern

jar (plural jars)

1. (file format, Java programming language) Initialism of Java archive