jar

/dʒɑr/

/dʒɑ/

Other forms: jars; jarring; jarred; jared

A jar is a smooth-sided, round container that's often made of glass. Jars are useful for storing food, from rice to tea bags to cookies.

A wide-mouth jar made of pottery might hold Oreos, and a small, short jar could contain homemade jam. When you put something in a jar, you jar it. Another way to use the verb version of jar is to mean "shock painfully or unpleasantly:" "Every bump we drove over in the old Jeep would jar my whole body." The jar that's a container probably stems from the Middle French jarre, "liquid measure."

Definitions of jar

1. noun

   a vessel (usually cylindrical) with a wide mouth and without handles
   types:

   amphora

   an ancient jar with two handles and a narrow neck; used to hold oil or wine

   beaker

   a flatbottomed jar made of glass or plastic; used for chemistry

   canopic jar, canopic vase

   a jar used in ancient Egypt to contain entrails of an embalmed body

   cookie jar, cooky jar

   a jar in which cookies are kept (and sometimes money is hidden)

   crock, earthenware jar

   an earthen jar (made of baked clay)

   cruse

   small jar; holds liquid (oil or water)

   jamjar, jampot

   a jar for holding jellies or preserves

   Mason jar

   a glass jar with an air-tight screw top; used in home canning

   vase

   an open jar of glass or porcelain used as an ornament or to hold flowers

   urn

   a large vase that usually has a pedestal or feet

   type of:

   vessel

   an object used as a container (especially for liquids)
2. noun

   the quantity contained in a jar
   synonyms: jarful

   type of:

   containerful

   the quantity that a container will hold
3. verb

   place in a cylindrical vessel
   “jar the jam”

   type of:

   lay, place, pose, position, put, set

   put into a certain place or abstract location
4. verb

   affect in a disagreeable way
   “This play jarred the audience”

   type of:

   affect, impress, move, strike

   have an emotional or cognitive impact upon
5. verb

   shock physically
   synonyms: bump around, shake up

   type of:

   displace, move

   cause to move or shift into a new position or place, both in a concrete and in an abstract sense
6. verb

   move or cause to move with a sudden jerky motion
   synonyms: jolt

   type of:

   move

   move so as to change position, perform a nontranslational motion
7. verb

   be incompatible; be or come into conflict
   synonyms: clash, collide

   type of:

   conflict

   be in conflict
8. noun

   a sudden jarring impact
   “all the jars and jolts were smoothed out by the shock absorbers”

   synonyms: jolt, jounce, shock

   type of:

   blow, bump

   an impact (as from a collision)