jig

jig¹

/jig/, n., v., jigged, jigging.

n.

1. Mach. a plate, box, or open frame for holding work and for guiding a machine tool to the work, used esp. for locating and spacing drilled holes; fixture.

2. Angling. any of several devices or lures, esp. 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.

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

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

v.t.

5. to treat, cut, produce, etc., with a jig.

v.i.

6. to use a jig.

7. to fish with a jig.

[1855-60; prob. akin to JIG², in sense "jerk to and fro"; orig. and interrelationship of this group of words uncert.]

jig²

—jiglike, jiggish, adj.

/jig/, n., v., jigged, jigging, adj.

n.

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.

3. Obs. prank; trick.

4. the jig is up, Slang. it is hopeless; no chance remains: When the burglar heard the police siren, he knew the jig was up.

v.t.

5. to dance (a jig or any lively dance).

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

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

v.i.

8. to dance or play a jig.

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

adj.

10. in jig time, Informal. with dispatch; rapidly: We sorted the mail in jig time.

[1550-60; in earliest sense "kind of dance" perh. < MF giguer to frolic, gambol, prob. < an unattested WGmc verb (cf. GIG¹); semantic development of other senses unclear]

jig³

/jig/, n.

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

jig⁴

/jig/, n. Slang (disparaging and offensive).

a black person.

[1920-25, Amer.; of uncert. orig.; cf. JIGABOO]

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▪ dance

      folk dance, usually solo, that was popular in Scotland and northern England in the 16th and 17th centuries and in Ireland since the 18th century. It is an improvised dance performed with rapid footwork and a rigid torso.

      In England jigs were sometimes danced across crossed flails and clay pipes; they were occasionally danced by performers wearing clogs and were akin to the modern clog dances of northern England. At the court of Elizabeth I, the northern jigs became fashionable in the 16th century, and the name was also loosely applied to other dances of folk origin. In the 16th and 17th centuries, jigs appeared as stage dances and as stylized keyboard compositions by such composers as William Byrd, John Bull, and Giles Farnaby. The jig soon spread to France and, in modified form as the gigue (q.v.), became fashionable at the court of Louis XIV.

      Irish jigs are performed by one or more soloists or by couples dancing the solo dance. The music is in ⁶/₈ time. The hop, or slip, jig is a similar step dance (solo dance) in ⁹/₈ time. When set dances, or figure dances for several couples, are danced to music in jig time, they are also called jigs. The few English Morris dances for solo dancers are also called jigs. Related to the jig is the Italian giga, a lively couple dance still popular in the folk tradition.

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