jig
noun
- custom-made tool used to control the location and/or motion of another tool
- type of dance
- type of fishing lure
verb
- dance to a jig
- fish with a (squid) jig
Wiktionary
Pronunciation: /d͡ʒɪɡ/
noun
Etymology: Probably a clipping of jigaboo, of uncertain origin, perhaps an African/Bantu word. Alternatively, jigaboo may be derived from jig (“dance”).
- A black person.
““You got a new jig, huh?” The boy looked out at Jones through his swirls of oiled hair. “What happened to the last one? He die or something?””
“This type of pickpocket, it should be noted, is passing from the scene; most class cannons now operating are old-timers. “The only youngsters I see breaking in on the whiz are jigs, and they are coining a bebop lingo that is something. […]”
verb
Etymology: Unknown. Derivation from Middle English gyge (“fiddle”), from Old French gigue (“a fiddle”) has been proposed, but the connection and sense development are obscure. The sense “a type of dance” of modern French gigue is borrowed from English.
- To move briskly, especially as a dance.
“The guests were jigging around on the dance floor.”
- To move with a skip or rhythm; to move with vibrations or jerks.
“the candle-flame stretched itself tall, and began jigging up and down.”
“[…]and the fin would jig off slowly, as if it were looking for nothing at all.”
- To fish with a jig.
- To sing to the tune of a jig.
“No, my complete master, but to jig off a tune at the tongue’s end, canary to it with your feet, humor it with turning up your eyelids,”
- To trick or cheat; to cajole; to delude.
“Make thy moan to ballad singers and rhymers ; they'll jig out thy wretchedness and abominations to new tunes”
- To sort or separate, as ore in a jigger or sieve.
- To cut or form, as a piece of metal, in a jigging machine.
- To skip school or be truant.