jar

jar¹ container

Etymology

The container is inherited from Middle English jarre (“a liquid measure”),^[2][3] borrowed from Middle French jarre,^[4][3][5][6] recorded in French from 1449,^[3] from Old Occitan jarra,^[4][2][6][3] from Arabic جَرَّة (jarra, “earthen water vessel”).^{[4][2][5][6][7]} The American Heritage Dictionary derives the Arabic noun from a verb meaning "to draw, pull",^[2] and it also names Medieval Latin jarra as a source;^[2][3] the OED thinks the English word may be partly from Spanish jarra directly.^[5] The same Arabic word gave giara and Spanish jarro.^[5][6] The Anglo-Norman jarre, an earthen pot for liquids or food, is recorded from 1428.^[8]

Earliest recorded meaning

Barnhart records jarre, possibly, in 1421, for a liquid measure smaller than a barrel.^[3] The OED's first quotations are from 1598 (Florio, as a measure) and 1600 (Hakluyt, as a vessel),^[5] and Merriam-Webster dates the vessel to 1592.^[4]

Semantic evolution

A jar was at first a large earthenware vessel for water, oil or wine,^[7] and also a measure of capacity that varied with the goods measured.^[5] The verb, to preserve fruit in a jar, is recorded from 1747, in Hannah Glasse's Art of Cookery.^[5] In the 20th century the word was a unit of electrical capacity (1920–1932)^[5] and, colloquially, a drink of beer, first in Seán O'Casey's Juno and the Paycock (1925);^[5][9] slang with a few jars on means drunk.^[9] In West Somerset a jar was a stone bottle with a handle, and in Lincolnshire a glass of liquor.^[10]

Timeline

• 1421 – jarre, possibly, a liquid measure.^[3]
• 1592 – a wide-mouthed container.^[4] The OED's first quotation for the vessel is from 1600.^[5]
• 1598 – a jar and its contents; a measure of capacity.^[5]
• 1747 – verb, to preserve fruit in a jar.^[5]
• 1920 – a unit of electrical capacity (obsolete by 1932).^[5]
• 1925 – a drink of beer.^[5][9]

Meanings

Noun

1. A wide-mouthed container, usually cylindrical and without handles, made of glass or earthenware: a jar of honey.^[11][4][12]
2. The amount a jar holds; a jarful.^[11][4][12]
3. (British, informal) A glass of beer or another alcoholic drink.^[11][12][5]
4. (obsolete, 1920–1932) A unit of electrical capacitance.^[11][5]

Verb

1. To put into a jar; to preserve fruit or other food in jars.^[12][4][5]

Word family

• jarful
• jarless
• bell jar
• canopic jar
• fruit jar

jar² harsh sound, jolt

Etymology

The word for a harsh sound or jolt is probably imitative.^{[4][5][7][13][14]} The OED takes it as echoic of a continued harsh vibration with a trilled r, varying with gerre and charre, and compares churr, chirr and chirk.^[5][13] Partridge suggests that it may come from Middle English charken (“to creak”), from Old English cearcian.^[15] The noun goes with the verb.^[5][7]

Earliest recorded meaning

Disagreement, dispute: the late 15th century, as a noun.^[7][16][17] The verb, to make a harsh grating sound, is first recorded in 1526, in Skelton.^[3][4]

Semantic evolution

From discord between people the word passed to discordant sound and to physical vibration.^[5][3] By 1538 it was used of a sound falling harshly on the ear,^[3][5] from 1546 of strife and quarrelling.^[5][3] At jar, at variance, appears in 1552.^[5] In the late 16th century a clock was said to jar, to tick.^[5] From 1568 the verb meant to make something vibrate or shake,^[5][3] from 1665 to strike against something with a grating sound.^[5] It meant to send a shock through the nerves by 1789,^[5] and the noun "a jolt, a shock to the nerves" appears in Jane Austen's Persuasion.^[5] Drillers used jars from 1865 for a linkage that gives the bit a jolt at each stroke.^[5] In dialect the verb still meant to make a grating noise and to quarrel.^[10]

Timeline

• late 15th century – noun, disagreement, dispute.^[7][16]
• 1526 – verb, to make a harsh, grating sound.^[3][4] The OED dates Skelton's use before 1529.^[5]
• 1538 – to fall harshly on the ear.^[3][5]
• 1546 – noun, discord, dissension.^[5][3]
• 1552 – at jar, at variance.^[5]
• 1553 – a harsh, grating sound.^[5][3]
• 1568 – to cause to vibrate or shake.^[5][3]
• 1592 – of a clock, to tick (obsolete by 1609).^[5]
• 1665 – to strike against something with a grating sound.^[5]
• 1789 – to send a shock through the nerves.^[5]
• before 1817 – noun, a jolt or shock through the body or nerves.^[5]
• 1865 – drilling, a jarring linkage between bit and rods.^[5]

Meanings

Verb

1. To make a harsh or discordant sound; to rattle.^[12][4]
2. To have a disturbing or irritating effect; to grate: The constant hammering jarred on his nerves.^[12][18]
3. To be out of harmony; to clash: The bright lettering jars with the plain cover.^[12][4]
4. To shake or vibrate from a blow.^[12][18]
5. To bump or shake something by impact.^[12][18]
6. To startle or unsettle; to shock.^[12][18]

Noun

1. A sudden jolt or shake; an unsettling shock.^[12][18]
2. A harsh, grating sound.^[12][4]
3. Discord or conflict.^[4][5]
4. An unpleasant break in rhythm or flow.^[18]

Word family

• jarringly
• jarry

jar³ turn, in 'on the jar'

Etymology

The word in “on the jar” is a later form of chare or char, a turn,^{[5][7][4][13]} which is inherited from Middle English char (“a turn”), inherited from Old English ċierr (“a turn”).^[19][13]

Earliest recorded meaning

In on the jar, of a door, on the turn, partly open: 1674, in Nathaniel Fairfax's Treatise of the Bulk and Selvedge of the World.^[5][4]

Semantic evolution

Middle English had on char, literally "on the turn", of a door or gate, from the mid-15th century,^[19][3] and Scots and northern dialect had achar and on char in the 16th century.^[13][3] The forms with j first appear in the 17th century in at jar and on the jar,^[13] and they led to ajar (1718).^[3][19] The OED notes that at jar, at discord, from the other jar, was sometimes confused with it, as in Swift's leaving them at jar (1711).^[5] The phrase is now archaic.^[4][7]

Timeline

• mid-15th century – on char, on the turn, of a door.^[19]
• 1674 – on the jar, partly open.^[5][4]

Meanings

Noun

1. (archaic) A turn, used in on the jar: of a door, partly open; ajar.^[4][7][5]