JIG (jigged, jigging)

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

IPA (US):

Irregular inflected forms: jigged    , jigging   

 Dictionary entry overview: What does jig mean? 

• JIG (noun)
  The noun JIG has 4 senses:

1. music in three-four time for dancing a jig

2. a fisherman's lure with one or more hooks that is jerked up and down in the water

3. a device that holds a piece of machine work and guides the tools operating on it

4. any of various old rustic dances involving kicking and leaping

  Familiarity information: JIG used as a noun is uncommon.

• JIG (verb)
  The verb JIG has 1 sense:

1. dance a quick dance with leaping and kicking motions

  Familiarity information: JIG used as a verb is very rare.

 Dictionary entry details 

• JIG (noun)

Sense 1

Meaning:

Music in three-four time for dancing a jig

Classified under:

Nouns denoting communicative processes and contents

Synonyms:

gigue; jig

Hypernyms ("jig" is a kind of...):

dance music (music to dance to)

Derivation:

jig (dance a quick dance with leaping and kicking motions)

Sense 2

Meaning:

A fisherman's lure with one or more hooks that is jerked up and down in the water

Classified under:

Nouns denoting man-made objects

Hypernyms ("jig" is a kind of...):

fish lure; fisherman's lure ((angling) any bright artificial bait consisting of plastic or metal mounted with hooks and trimmed with feathers)

Sense 3

Meaning:

A device that holds a piece of machine work and guides the tools operating on it

Classified under:

Nouns denoting man-made objects

Hypernyms ("jig" is a kind of...):

device (an instrumentality invented for a particular purpose)

Sense 4

Meaning:

Any of various old rustic dances involving kicking and leaping

Classified under:

Nouns denoting acts or actions

Hypernyms ("jig" is a kind of...):

folk dance; folk dancing (a style of dancing that originated among ordinary people (not in the royal courts))

Derivation:

jig (dance a quick dance with leaping and kicking motions)

• JIG (verb)

Present simple: I / you / we / they jig    ... he / she / it jigs   
Past simple: jigged   
Past participle: jigged   
-ing form: jigging   

Sense 1

Meaning:

Dance a quick dance with leaping and kicking motions

Classified under:

Verbs of walking, flying, swimming

Hypernyms (to "jig" is one way to...):

dance; trip the light fantastic; trip the light fantastic toe (move in a pattern; usually to musical accompaniment; do or perform a dance)

Sentence frame:

Somebody ----s

Sentence example:

Sam and Sue jig

Derivation:

jig (any of various old rustic dances involving kicking and leaping)

jig (music in three-four time for dancing a jig)

 Context examples 

When the girls saw that performance, Jo began to dance a jig, by way of expressing her satisfaction, Amy nearly fell out of the window in her surprise, and Meg exclaimed, with up-lifted hands, Well, I do believe the world is coming to an end.

(Little Women, by Louisa May Alcott)

She seemed to have missed by so little the very object she had had in view; and this persuasion did not incline her to a very gracious reply, when John Thorpe came up to her soon afterwards and said, Well, Miss Morland, I suppose you and I are to stand up and jig it together again.

(Northanger Abbey, by Jane Austen)

I ran sideling upon it, that way and this, as fast as I could, banging the proper keys with my two sticks, and made a shift to play a jig, to the great satisfaction of both their majesties; but it was the most violent exercise I ever underwent; and yet I could not strike above sixteen keys, nor consequently play the bass and treble together, as other artists do; which was a great disadvantage to my performance.

(Gulliver's Travels into several remote nations of the world, by Jonathan Swift)

But she let old Belsham rest, and when I ran back after my gloves this afternoon, there she was, so hard at the Vicar that she didn't hear me laugh as I danced a jig in the hall because of the good time coming.

(Little Women, by Louisa May Alcott)