Jig Definition

jĭg
jigged, jigging, jigs
noun
jigs
A fast, springy sort of dance, usually in triple time.
Webster's New World
The music for such a dance.
Webster's New World
Any of various fishing lures that are jiggled up and down in the water.
Webster's New World
A joke or trick. Used chiefly in the phrase The jig is up.
American Heritage
A typically metal fishing lure with one or more hooks, usually deployed with a jiggling motion on or near the bottom.
American Heritage
verb
jigged, jigging, jigs
To dance or perform (a jig) or to dance in jig style.
Webster's New World
To move jerkily and quickly up and down or to and fro.
Webster's New World
To use a jig (on) in working.
Webster's New World
To bob or jerk (something) up and down or to and fro.
American Heritage
To fish or catch (a fish) with a jig.
Webster's New World
idiom
in jig time
  • Very quickly; rapidly.
American Heritage
in jig time
  • very quickly
Webster's New World
the jig is up
  • that ends it; all chances for success are gone
Webster's New World

Other Word Forms of Jig

Noun

Singular:
jig
Plural:
jigs

Idioms, Phrasal Verbs Related to Jig

Origin of Jig

  • An assimilated form of earlier gig, from Middle English gigge, from Old French gige, gigue (“a fiddle, kind of dance”), from Frankish *gīge (“dance, fiddle”), from Proto-Germanic *gīganą (“to move, wish, desire”), from Proto-Indo-European *gheiǵh-, *gheigh- (“to yawn, gape, long for, desire”). Cognate with Middle Dutch ghighe (“fiddle”), German Geige (“fiddle, violin”), Danish gige (“fiddle”), Icelandic gigja (“fiddle”). More at gig, geg.

    From Wiktionary

  • Probably shortening of jigaboo

    From American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition

  • Origin unknown

    From American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition

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