jockey
Americannoun
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jockeys
plural
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a person who rides horses professionally in races.
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Informal. a person who pilots, operates, or guides the movement of something, as an airplane or automobile.
verb (used with object)
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jockeys,
present (3rd person singular)
-
jockeyed,
past participle, past
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jockeying
present participle
-
to ride (a horse) as a jockey.
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Informal. to operate or guide the movement of; pilot; drive.
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to move, bring, put, etc., by skillful maneuvering.
The movers jockeyed the sofa through the door.
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to trick or cheat.
The salesman jockeyed them into buying an expensive car.
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to manipulate cleverly or trickily.
He jockeyed himself into office.
verb (used without object)
-
jockeys,
present (3rd person singular)
-
jockeyed,
past participle, past
-
jockeying
present participle
-
to aim at an advantage by skillful maneuvering.
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to act trickily; seek an advantage by trickery.
noun
verb
-
-
(tr) to ride (a horse) in a race
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(intr) to ride as a jockey
-
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to try to obtain an advantage by manoeuvring, esp literally in a race or metaphorically, as in a struggle for power (esp in the phrase jockey for position )
-
to trick or cheat (a person)
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
-
jockeysimple
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jockeyssimple
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have jockeyedperfect
-
has jockeyedperfect
-
am jockeyingprogressive
-
are jockeyingprogressive
-
is jockeyingprogressive
-
have been jockeyingperfect progressive
-
has been jockeyingperfect progressive
Past
-
jockeyedsimple
-
had jockeyedperfect
-
was jockeyingprogressive
-
were jockeyingprogressive
-
had been jockeyingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of jockey
First recorded in 1520–30 for an earlier sense; special use of Jock + -ey 2
Explanation
During a horse race, the riders are called jockeys. Being a jockey is an excellent career choice for someone small. Jockeys, usually male, are always small people, weighing less than 120 pounds and generally standing no more than five feet five inches tall. This keeps the horses' total weight light, allowing them to run faster. When jockey is used as a verb, it means "to struggle or compete," like when politicians jockey for dominance or kids jockey to be the first in line for a bouncy house. Jockey was originally a Scottish word for "boy."
Vocabulary lists containing jockey
Horsin' Around
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Born a Crime
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Dear Martin
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Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
See Examples For:
St Leger-winning jockey Saffie Osborne says the "fear of failure" has left her after she became the first woman to win a British Classic.
From BBC ● Sep. 17, 2026
Composers were known to jockey for the chance to premiere a new piece of music there, and top touring acts typically booked spots there years in advance.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 14, 2026
Hamblett became an apprentice jockey at 16 under champion trainer Sir Michael Stoute.
From BBC ● Sep. 6, 2026
Gubernatorial candidates jockey over it; both New York Gov. Kathy Hochul, a Democrat, and Texas Gov. Greg Abbott, a Republican, put temporary moratoriums on new data centers.
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 6, 2026
In his pockets the officer found $112, a bus ticket for Petersburg, Illinois, and documents that identified him as Thomas Dowell, an obscure local jockey.
From "Seabiscuit: An American Legend" by Laura Hillenbrand
We look to be back in the realms of a two-horse race and the two horses have experienced jockeys now, not two Old Firm apprentices like Russell Martin and Wilfried Nancy.
From BBC ● Jul. 31, 2026
Catsimatidis even hired one of WABC’s legendary disc jockeys, Bruce Morrow — known to millions of baby boomers as Cousin Brucie.
From Los Angeles Times ● Apr. 22, 2026
The new strategy also identified a significant underrepresentation in female jockeys, with only 25% of jockeys being women despite them making up 70% of racing school students and 50% of racing staff.
From BBC ● Mar. 19, 2026
He says he knows from experience the perilous nature of racing, with jockeys balanced over a saddle the size of a large handkerchief and horses bunched together running up to 40 miles an hour.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Nov. 6, 2025
They opted to lift the suspensions on both jockeys after the Del Mar meeting concluded.
From "Seabiscuit: An American Legend" by Laura Hillenbrand
Historically, monarchs had a court of advisers, diplomats and merchants who jockeyed for proximity to limitless power.
From Salon ● Jun. 2, 2026
It has also jockeyed with Saudi Arabia, the biggest oil producer in OPEC, for regional clout.
From MarketWatch ● Apr. 28, 2026
“We recall the cloud transformation cycle about five years ago when leading cybersecurity firms jockeyed for market share, and we are witnessing the same phenomenon in the current AI super cycle secular wave.”
From Barron's ● Apr. 10, 2026
As TV producers jockeyed for scoops and access, prosecutors in the Tarrant County District Attorney’s Office, in Fort Worth, were faced with another task.
From Slate ● Apr. 6, 2026
Their purple forms flickered as they jockeyed for places.
From "The Son of Neptune" by Rick Riordan
His long stay abroad has also stoked talk of a post-Biya future and accelerated jockeying among would-be successors as questions over who might replace him persist.
From Barron's ● Aug. 20, 2026
No document has been more examined than the U.S.-Iran memorandum of understanding, down to the placement of commas, as if the terms meant anything to those jockeying over it.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 14, 2026
No single category can contain the Whitmanesque multitudes jockeying for position inside us.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jun. 29, 2026
While making his way through the ballroom he came across reporters ducking for cover and some jockeying for position with their phone cameras.
From Salon ● May 1, 2026
Sybil scorned Mingo, his greasy personality and constant jockeying; an imperious nature lurked beneath his gregariousness.
From "The Underground Railroad: A Novel" by Colson Whitehead
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
