jockey

[jok-ee]

noun

plural

jockeys 

1. a person who rides horses professionally in races.

2. Informal.,  a person who pilots, operates, or guides the movement of something, as an airplane or automobile.

verb (used with object)

jockeyed, jockeying 

1. to ride (a horse) as a jockey.

2. Informal.,  to operate or guide the movement of; pilot; drive.

3. to move, bring, put, etc., by skillful maneuvering.

   The movers jockeyed the sofa through the door.

4. to trick or cheat.

   The salesman jockeyed them into buying an expensive car.

5. to manipulate cleverly or trickily.

   He jockeyed himself into office.

verb (used without object)

jockeyed, jockeying 

1. to aim at an advantage by skillful maneuvering.

2. to act trickily; seek an advantage by trickery.

jockey

/ ˈdʒɒkɪ /

noun

1. a person who rides horses in races, esp as a profession or for hire

verb

1. 1. (tr) to ride (a horse) in a race

   2. (intr) to ride as a jockey

2. 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 )

3. to trick or cheat (a person)

Other Word Forms

• jockeylike adjective
• jockeyish adjective
• jockeyship noun

Word History and Origins

Origin of jockey¹

First recorded in 1520–30 for an earlier sense; special use of Jock + -ey ²

Word History and Origins

Origin of jockey¹

C16 (in the sense: lad): from name Jock + _-ey

Example Sentences

Prime Video’s “The Summer I Turned Pretty” takes this plot device to a stressful extreme by pitting two brothers against each other as they jockey for the affection of their longtime friend.

Read more on The Wall Street Journal

But she found a job as a typist at Radio Tokyo, which enlisted POWs in its propaganda division and recruited her in late 1943 as a disc jockey.

Read more on Los Angeles Times

Now, the real jockeying begins for the future of Warner Bros.

Read more on Los Angeles Times

There, he said, he planned to “draft a new letter to my potential investors. Racing wolves! Half-human child jockeys! It’s one brilliant moneymaking scheme after another!”

Read more on Literature

Another week, another megadeal involving Big Tech players jockeying to power the artificial-intelligence wave — with large sums of money moving between them.

Read more on MarketWatch