jig
/dʒɪɡ
/noun
1A lively dance with leaping movements.They twitched, swayed and finally did a lively little jig - but there was no bird in sight....
- No wonder her boss danced a little jig and then rang to thank Larry.
- I continued to hop and dance about, performing an Irish jig Brooke had taught me.
1.1A piece of music for a jig, typically in compound time.If you thought Celtic music was fiddles, jigs and reels, this extraordinary album will be a platform for your transfiguration....
- Pipe tunes, mouth music, jigs and reels nestle alongside songs and ballads, most originating from Fowlis' native South Uist.
- The off-key singing of the congregations at Church and the reels and jigs of the Connecticut fiddle players enchanted him.
2A device that holds a piece of work and guides the tool operating on it.However, in 2005 the plan calls for production of entirely new-build Vipers for which the company will have to build jigs and tools....
- These special tools, called jigs and fixtures, make jobs easier and allow the gunsmith to turn out quality work, fast and efficiently.
- The Miltech shop is a jumble of jigs, tools and fixtures, each dedicated to a specific task, such as an original M1 barrel vise.
3 Fishing A type of artificial bait that is jerked up and down through the water.The change of pace from topwaters and jigs dredged up memories and fish, good on both counts....
- Topwaters and soft-plastic jigs catch fish through winter, but for genuine, heart-stopping trout, odds favor suspending lures.
- But when the current rolls and the fish are hungry, they'll slam jigs and sometimes detonate on topwater plugs.
verb (jigs, jigging, jigged)
1 [no object] Dance a jig: he stood up and jigged in the cockpit...
- They swapped their heads around and played and partied and danced and jigged and forgot who they were.
- His mother, a sandwich maker, has told how he would be forever jigging and dancing around the house as a child.
- The Nigerian danced and jigged and very nearly scored.
1.1 [with adverbial] Move up and down with a quick jerky motion: we were jigging about in our seats...
- So, what if you get on your horse and he starts jigging, trotting or moving around at an improper pace?
- A long handle beats you to death during the vertical jigging motion for the plastic, or the zigzag for the topwater.
- In a related compound-unit vein, Showtime presents a tight clutch of attenuated compartments, jigging vertically like a dancing city skyline in a Tex Avery cartoon.
2 [with object] Equip (a factory or workshop) with a jig or jigs: the floor space was jigged and tooled to produce six fuselages a month...
- My personal preference time and time again on my jigging system remains to be Trilene XL.
3 [no object] Fish with a jig: a man jigged for squid...
- Since squid is also a good bait fish we believe it is proper to include squid jigging in this booklet.
- You want to start reeling and jigging your bait though the different spectrums of the water.
- Lescarbot also observed Mikmaq spearing salmon, sturgeon and dolphins and jigging for cod.
Phrases
in jig time
the jig is up
Origin
Mid 16th century: of unknown origin.