jockey
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jockey
- /ˈd͡ʒɒki/ UK
- /ˈd͡ʒɑki/ US
Sounds like jocky · Rhymes with -ɒki
Where it comes from
The word is by origin a diminutive of jock, the Northern English or Scots colloquial equivalent of the first name John, which is also used generically for "boy" or "fellow" (compare Jack, Dick), at least since 1529. A familiar instance of the use of the word as a name is in "Jockey of Norfolk" in Shakespeare's Richard III. v. 3, 304. Equivalent to jock + -ey.
In the 16th and 17th centuries the word was applied to horse-dealers, postilions, itinerant minstrels and vagabonds, and thus frequently bore the meaning of a cunning trickster, a "sharp", whence the verb to jockey, "to outwit" or "to do" a person out of something. The current meaning of a person who rides a horse in races was first seen in 1670.
noun jockeys
- One who rides racehorses competitively.
- That part of a variable resistor or potentiometer that rides over the resistance wire
- An operator of some machinery or apparatus.
- A dealer in horses; a horse trader. And the crime for which Nuncomar was about to die was regarded by them in much the same light in which the selling of an unsound horse, for a sound price, is regarded by a Yorkshire jockey.
- A cheat; one given to sharp practice in trade.
-
A prostitute's client.
Similar: prostitute's client
- A rapist.
verb jockeys · jockeying · jockeyed
- To ride (a horse) in a race.
- To jostle by riding against. They were jockeying for position toward the end of the race.
- To maneuver (something) by skill; especially, to do so for one's advantage. They're all jockeying for promotion.
- To cheat or trick. I've been jockeyed into doing work for which I get no credit.
Thesaurus
Closest in meaning: shaft, screw, cheat, chouse, chicane, equestrian, horseman, horse, jock, racing, kang, riding, trooper, rider, knight, club
Translations
Talk about this word "jockey." Wiktionary, via Micwyn, micwyn.com/word/jockey. Accessed 6 Nov. 2026. jockey. (n.d.). In Wiktionary, via Micwyn. Retrieved November 6, 2026, from https://micwyn.com/word/jockey "jockey." Wiktionary, via Micwyn. Accessed November 6, 2026. https://micwyn.com/word/jockey.Cite this
@misc{jockey_2026,
title = {jockey},
howpublished = {Wiktionary, via Micwyn},
year = {2026},
url = {https://micwyn.com/word/jockey},
urldate = {2026-11-06}
}
