jig

1
[ jig ]
See synonyms for jig on Thesaurus.com
noun
  1. Machinery. a plate, box, or open frame for holding work and for guiding a machine tool to the work, used especially for locating and spacing drilled holes; fixture.

  2. Angling. any of several devices or lures, especially a hook or gang of hooks weighted with metal and dressed with hair, feathers, etc., for jerking up and down in or drawing through the water to attract fish.

  1. Mining. an apparatus for washing coal or separating ore from gangue by shaking and washing.

  2. a cloth-dyeing machine in which the material, guided by rollers, is passed at full width through a dye solution in an open vat.

verb (used with object),jigged, jig·ging.
  1. to treat, cut, produce, etc., with a jig.

verb (used without object),jigged, jig·ging.
  1. to use a jig.

  2. to fish with a jig.

Origin of jig

1
First recorded in 1855–60; probably akin to jig2, in the sense “jerk to and fro”; origin and interrelationship of these words uncertain

Words Nearby jig

Other definitions for jig (2 of 4)

jig2
[ jig ]

noun
  1. a rapid, lively, springy, irregular dance for one or more persons, usually in triple meter.

  2. a piece of music for or in the rhythm of such a dance.

  1. Obsolete. prank; trick.

verb (used with object),jigged, jig·ging.
  1. to dance (a jig or any lively dance).

  2. to sing or play in the time or rhythm of a jig: to jig a tune.

  1. to move with a jerky or bobbing motion; jerk up and down or to and fro.

verb (used without object),jigged, jig·ging.
  1. to dance or play a jig.

  2. to move with a quick, jerky motion; hop; bob.

Origin of jig

2
First recorded in 1550–60; in earliest sense “kind of dance”; further origin uncertain; perhaps from Middle French giguer “to frolic, gambol,” possibly from an unattested West Germanic verb

Other words from jig

  • jiglike, jiggish, adjective

Other definitions for jig (3 of 4)

jig3
[ jig ]

noun
  1. (formerly used in communications to represent the letter J.)

Other definitions for jig (4 of 4)

jig4
[ jig ]

nounSlang: Extremely Disparaging and Offensive.
  1. a contemptuous term used to refer to a Black person.

Origin of jig

4
First recorded in 1920–25, Americanism; of uncertain origin; cf. jigaboo

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2024

How to use jig in a sentence

  • I wanted her to be there when its full import broke upon him; then the three of us, Mary and Tim and I, would do a wild jig.

  • Everybody was laughing and singing to the tune of an Irish jig that Norah's father was playing on the bagpipes.

    Our Little Irish Cousin | Mary Hazelton Wade
  • Nor did I release her until Whistling Jim, coming up and realizing the situation, celebrated it by whistling a jig.

    A Little Union Scout | Joel Chandler Harris
  • And who should he spy in a jig, With a meal-man so tall and so big,But his own darling Kate, so gay and so nate?

  • From what he hears, or knows, he gathers, that the jig is up.

    The Daffodil Mystery | Edgar Wallace

British Dictionary definitions for jig

jig

/ (dʒɪɡ) /


noun
  1. any of several old rustic kicking and leaping dances

  2. a piece of music composed for or in the rhythm of this dance, usually in six-eight time

  1. a mechanical device designed to hold and locate a component during machining and to guide the cutting tool

  2. angling any of various spinning lures that wobble when drawn through the water

  3. Also called: jigger mining a device for separating ore or coal from waste material by agitation in water

  4. obsolete a joke or prank

verbjigs, jigging or jigged
  1. to dance (a jig)

  2. to jerk or cause to jerk up and down rapidly

  1. (often foll by up) to fit or be fitted in a jig

  2. (tr) to drill or cut (a workpiece) in a jig

  3. mining to separate ore or coal from waste material using a jig

  4. (intr) to produce or manufacture a jig

  5. Australian slang to play truant from school

Origin of jig

1
C16 (originally: a dance or the music for it; applied to various modern devices because of the verbal sense: to jerk up and down rapidly): of unknown origin

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012