jamb

/dʒæm/

/dʒæm/

Other forms: jambs

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."

Definitions of jamb

1. noun

   upright consisting of a vertical side member of a door or window frame
   types:

   doorjamb, doorpost

   a jamb for a door

   type of:

   upright, vertical

   a vertical structural member as a post or stake