jigdʒɪg(n.; v.)jigged, jig•ging.

1. (n.)a plate, box, or open frame for holding work and for guiding a machine tool to the work.

   Category: Machinery

2. any of several devices that are jerked up and down in or pulled through the water to attract fish to a line.

   Category: Sport

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

   Category: Mining

4. a cloth-dyeing machine in which a roll of fabric is unwound, passed through a vat of dye, and then rewound onto another cylinder.

   Category: Textiles

5. (v.t.)to treat, cut, produce, etc., with a jig.

   Category: Textiles

6. (v.i.)to use a jig.

7. to fish with a jig.

   Category: Sport

Origin of jig:

1855–60; prob. akin to jig2, in sense “jerk to and fro”

jigdʒɪg(n.; v.)jigged, jig•ging.

1. (n.)a rapid, lively, springy, irregular dance for one or more persons, usu. in triple meter.

   Category: Music and Dance

2. a piece of music for such a dance.

   Category: Music and Dance

3. Obs. prank; trick.

4. (v.t.)to dance (a jig or any lively dance).

   Category: Music and Dance

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

   to jig a tune.

   Category: Music and Dance

6. to cause to move with quick, jerky or bobbing motions.

7. (v.i.)to dance or play a jig.

   Category: Music and Dance

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

Idioms for jig:

1. in jig time,with dispatch; rapidly.

   Category: Idiom, Informal

Origin of jig:

1550–60; in earliest sense “kind of dance” perh. < MF giguer to frolic, gambol

jig′like`(adj.)

jig′gish(adj.)