Literary notes about jammed (AI summary)
The term "jammed" is deployed in literature to evoke a sense of forced accommodation, blockage, or mechanical failure that heightens both physical and metaphorical tension. It frequently describes situations where objects or bodies are pressed tightly together or driven into an inescapable position—illustrated by a character shoving a gun into someone’s back [1] or crowds crammed so tightly that movement becomes impossible [2]. At the same time, it conveys the failure of mechanisms to function, as in a ship’s rigging stuck in the grooves of its pulleys [3] or a vehicle’s accelerator being grounded in a moment of crisis [4]. In these narratives, "jammed" amplifies the feeling of entrapment or overload, whether in the psychological suppression of an inner voice [5] or the physical hindrance experienced in turbulent scenes of battle [6].
- Tom quickly stepped inside and jammed his gun in the man's back.
— from The Revolt on Venus by Carey Rockwell - I went there on a street-car, moving snail-like with a groaning noise through the cobbled, muddy streets, and jammed with people.
— from Ten Days That Shook the World by John Reed - A ship's rigging would have been unusable, because all its tackle would have jammed in the grooves of the pulleys.
— from Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Seas: An Underwater Tour of the World by Jules Verne - Inside the pressurized passenger cab, Tom gripped the shock-bars with one arm and the other leg, and jammed the accelerator to the floor.
— from Gold in the Sky by Alan Edward Nourse - He savagely jammed down deep inside him the tiny inner voice that was trying to object.
— from Starman's Quest by Robert Silverberg - Lewis had seen the man well enough in that split second when he jammed on the brakes and turned the wheel.
— from Green Doors by Ethel Cook Eliot
