jig
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jig¹
- /d͡ʒɪɡ/ US, UK
Sounds like gig (one pronunciation) · Rhymes with -ɪɡ
Where it comes from
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.
noun jigs
- A light, brisk musical movement; a gigue.
- A lively dance in 6/8 (double jig), 9/8 (slip jig) or 12/8 (single jig) time; a tune suitable for such a dance. By extension, a lively traditional tune in any of these time signatures. Unqualified, the term is usually taken to refer to a double (6/8) jig. They danced a jig.
- A dance performed by one or sometimes two individual dancers, as opposed to a dance performed by a set or team.
- A type of lure consisting of a hook molded into a weight, usually with a bright or colorful body. They were waked out of their bunks one black night by yells of "Squid O!" from Salters, and for an hour and a half every soul aboard hung over his squid-jig—a piece of lead painted red and armed at the lower end with a circle of pins bent backward like half-opened umbrella ribs.
- A device in manufacturing, woodworking, or other creative endeavors for controlling the location, path of movement, or both of either a workpiece or the tool that is operating upon it. Subsets of this general class include machining jigs, woodworking jigs, welders' jigs, jewelers' jigs, and many others. Cutting circles out of pinewood is best done with a compass-style jig.
- An apparatus or machine for jigging ore.
- A light, humorous piece of writing, especially in rhyme; a farce in verse; a ballad. A jig shall be clapped at, and every rhyme / Praised and applauded by a clamorous chime.
- A trick; a prank. This Innovation? Is't not a fine Jigg? / A precious cunning in the late Protector / To shuffle a new Prince into the State.
verb jigs · jigging · jigged
- 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.
- 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.
jig²
- /d͡ʒɪɡ/ US, UK
Sounds like gig (one pronunciation) · Rhymes with -ɪɡ
Where it comes from
Probably a clipping of jigaboo, of uncertain origin, perhaps an African/Bantu word. Alternatively, jigaboo may be derived from jig (“dance”).
noun jigs
- 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?”
Jig³
noun
-
radiotelephony clear-code word for the letter J.
Similar: Juliett
Thesaurus
Closest in meaning: template, headcount, staffing, saw, dance, reel, hornpipe, caper, prance, skip, hop, jiggle, shake, shimmy, jive, boogie
Translations
Every language
noun Morris dancing: solo dance
| Español | jiga |
|---|
noun type of fishing lure
| 中文 | （帶墜子的）釣鉤 /（带坠子的）钓钩 |
|---|---|
| Русский | блесна́ blesná |
noun mechanical device
| Español | plantilla de guía, guía, plantilla, calibre, horma |
|---|---|
| 한국어 | 지그 jigeu |
| 日本語 | ジグ jigu, 治具 jigu |
| Português | escantilhão |
| Français | patron, modèle |
| Deutsch | Schablone, Lehre, Vorrichtung |
| Русский | конду́ктор kondúktor, шабло́н šablón |
Talk about this word "jig." Wiktionary, via Micwyn, micwyn.com/word/jig. Accessed 6 Nov. 2026. jig. (n.d.). In Wiktionary, via Micwyn. Retrieved November 6, 2026, from https://micwyn.com/word/jig "jig." Wiktionary, via Micwyn. Accessed November 6, 2026. https://micwyn.com/word/jig.Cite this
@misc{jig_2026,
title = {jig},
howpublished = {Wiktionary, via Micwyn},
year = {2026},
url = {https://micwyn.com/word/jig},
urldate = {2026-11-06}
}
