jell — ONAD · Shobdo

jell /jel, dʒɛl

▸ verb

(jells, jelling, jelled)

[no object] mainly North American

1 (of a liquid or semiliquid substance) set or become more solid:

she works at it all day but can't get the jelly to jell

chicken or fish stock will jell when chilled.

2 (of a project or idea) take a definite form or begin to work well:

he decided to do a different film that would jell at the box office.

▪ (of people) work well together:

we went out there and tried to win, but we just didn't jell.

– ORIGIN mid 18th century : back-formation from jelly1. See also gel1.