Ajar

Pronunciation

• UK IPA: /əˈd͡ʒɑː/
• US IPA: /əˈd͡ʒɑɹ/

Origin

From Middle English ajar, on char ("on the turn"), from on ("on") + char ("turn, occasion"), from Old English Ä‹ierr, cyrr ("turn"), from Old English Ä‹ierran ("to turn, convert"), equivalent to - + char. Akin to Dutch akerre, kier ("ajar"), German kehren ("to turn"). See char.

Full definition of ajar

Adverb

1. Slightly turned or opened.The door was standing ajar.
2. Being at variance or in contradiction to something.
• 1819, Lord Byron, Don Juan, II.14:There is a sort of unexpressed concern,
  A kind of shock that sets one's heart ajar ....

Adjective

1. Slightly turned or opened.The door is ajar.When is a door not a door? When it is ajar.The pantry door was ajar, so I opened it and took out the jamb.

Verb

1. (rare, perhaps nonstandard) To turn or open slightly; to become ajar or to cause to become ajar; to be or to hang ajar.
• 1970, John H. Evans, Mercer County law journal, Volume 10,A plainclothes detective knocked on a slightly ajarred door.
• 1977, Bill Reed, Dogod,Yes, and the door also lops off stairs leading to a landing on whose landing is another door on whose hinges much of this story ajars, if it hasn't jarred too much already.
• 2007, Loki, Shard of the Ancient,Just as the gates fully ajarred themselves, the Lamborghini soared through them, and out into the freedom of the poorly defined road.
2. (rare, perhaps nonstandard) To show variance or contradiction with something; to be or cause to be askew.
• 1907, The English Illustrated Magazine, Volume 36,It clean deafened the two of us, and set all the crockery ware ajarring ; and when the neighbours heard it they came running into the street to see who was getting hurt.

Anagrams

• raja