Jig Definition

jĭg

jigged, jigging, jigs

noun

jigs

A fast, springy sort of dance, usually in triple time.

Webster's New World

The music for such a dance.

Webster's New World

Any of various fishing lures that are jiggled up and down in the water.

Webster's New World

A joke or trick. Used chiefly in the phrase The jig is up.

American Heritage

A typically metal fishing lure with one or more hooks, usually deployed with a jiggling motion on or near the bottom.

American Heritage

Synonyms:

verb

jigged, jigging, jigs

To dance or perform (a jig) or to dance in jig style.

Webster's New World

To move jerkily and quickly up and down or to and fro.

Webster's New World

To use a jig (on) in working.

Webster's New World

To bob or jerk (something) up and down or to and fro.

American Heritage

To fish or catch (a fish) with a jig.

Webster's New World

idiom

in jig time

American Heritage

in jig time

Webster's New World

the jig is up

Webster's New World

Other Word Forms of Jig

Singular:

jig

Plural:

An assimilated form of earlier gig, from Middle English gigge, from Old French gige, gigue (“a fiddle, kind of dance”), from Frankish *gīge (“dance, fiddle”), from Proto-Germanic *gīganą (“to move, wish, desire”), from Proto-Indo-European *gheiǵh-, *gheigh- (“to yawn, gape, long for, desire”). Cognate with Middle Dutch ghighe (“fiddle”), German Geige (“fiddle, violin”), Danish gige (“fiddle”), Icelandic gigja (“fiddle”). More at gig, geg.

From Wiktionary
Probably shortening of jigaboo

From American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition
Origin unknown

From American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition