jig

Plural: jigs

Noun

• music in three-four time for dancing a jig
• a fisherman's lure with one or more hooks that is jerked up and down in the water
• a device that holds a piece of machine work and guides the tools operating on it
• any of various old rustic dances involving kicking and leaping
• 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.
• 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.
• 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.
• An apparatus or machine for jigging ore.
• A light, humorous piece of writing, especially in rhyme; a farce in verse; a ballad.
• A trick; a prank.
• A black person.

Verb

Verb Forms: jigged, jigging, jigs

• To bob or move up and down with quick, light movements.
• dance a quick dance with leaping and kicking motions
• To move briskly, especially as a dance.
• To move with a skip or rhythm; to move with vibrations or jerks.
• To fish with a jig.
• To sing to the tune of a jig.
• To trick or cheat; to cajole; to delude.
• 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 (Australia, Canadian Maritimes)

Examples

• Cutting circles out of pinewood is best done with a compass-style jig.
• My opponent’s foot started to jig nervously as I laid down a seven-letter word.
• The guests were jigging around on the dance floor.
• They danced a jig.

Synonyms

gigue

Anagrams of jig