Also 6–7 ierke, girke, 7–9 jirk. [jerk sb. and vb. are known from c. 1550; app. echoic. See also YERK, which in some senses appears to be synonymous with this.]
† 1. A stroke with a whip or wand, a stripe, a lash. Obs.
1555. W. Watreman, Fardle Facions, II. xi. 256. To the manne … foure score ierkes or lasshes with a skourge.
1594. Contention, V. 154. After the Beadle hath hit him one girke, he leapes ouer the stoole and runnes away.
1612. Brinsley, Lud. Lit., xxix. 288. Sometimes in greater faults, to giue three or fowre ierkes with a birch, or with a small redde willow where birch cannot be had.
1629. Z. Boyd, Last Battell, 1216. Let me giue him a girke with my rodde.
1742. Richardson, Pamela, III. 334. Many a Jirk has the Dog had from me.
1796. Morse, Amer. Geog., I. 221. The Indians … imagine that it [a coach-whip snake] is able to cut a man in two with a jerk of its tail.
† b. fig. A lash of sarcasm; a cutting gibe.
1590. Nashe, Pasquil’s Apol., I. A iv b. The dislike that some had of the ierke which I gaue to Fryer Sauanarol.
1642. Milton, Apol. Smect., i. Who he is … under whose contempt and jirk these Men are not deservedly fallen?
a. 1700. B. E., Dict. Cant. Crew, Gybe,… also Jerk or Jeer.
1741. trans. Laval’s Hist. Ref., IV. VIII. 912. He … omitted not to slide into his Speech some Jerks against the Doctrine … of the Jesuits.
2. A quick suddenly arrested movement; a sharp sudden pull, throw, push, thrust or twist.
1575. Gascoigne, Weeds, Fruit of Fetters, Continence. The stiffe and strongest arme Which geues a ierke and hath a cunning loose; Shoots furdest stil.
1633. B. Jonson, Love’s Welcome, Welbeck. His Jade gave him a Jerk.
1664. Power, Exp. Philos., I. 21. Little whitish Animals, which move up and down the water with jerks and stops in their motion.
1706. Baynard, in Sir J. Floyer, Hot & Cold Bath., II. (1709), 302. To leave that and other Vices gradatim, and not at a jerk.
1776–96. Withering, Brit. Plants (ed. 3), IV. 344. Seeds on the upper surface only: discharged by jerks.
1807. Roland, Fencing, 96. I may, with this smart sudden jirk from my wrist, strike your blade in such a manner as will leave your body quite exposed.
1871. L. Stephen, Playgr. Europe, iii. (1894), 84. He … brought me with a jerk into a sitting position.
b. (a) Physiol. An involuntary spasmodic contraction of a muscle, due to reflex action of nerves, as from external stimulus: usually with qualification, as knee-jerk, chin-jerk. (b) (in pl. the jerks). Involuntary spasmodic movements of the limbs or features, esp. resulting from religious excitement.
1805. Dow, Jrnl., in H. Mayo, Pop. Superst. (1851), 125. I have seen all denominations of religion exercised by the jerks.
1822. Southey, in Q. Rev., XXVIII. 6. The Jerks are not confined to a peculiar sect, or order.
1849. H. Mayo, Pop. Superst. (1851), 124. The convulsions were commonly called ‘the jerks.’
1874. E. Eggleston, Circuit Rider, xii. 111. These Methodis’ sets people crazy with the jerks, I’ve hearn tell.
c. fig. in reference to literary style.
1818. Hazlitt, Eng. Poets, i. (1870), 16. The jerks, the breaks, the inequalities and harshnesses of prose are fatal to the flow of a poetical imagination.
1883. S. C. Hall, Retrospect, I. 322. His wit was more like a jerk than the flow it had once been.
3. fig. A short sharp witty speech; a sally.
1588. Shaks., L. L. L., IV. ii. 129. Smelling out the odoriferous flowers of fancy, the ierkes of inuention.
1606. Choice, Chance, etc. (1881), 49. At last, one merry fellowe comes out with his ierke.
1630. J. Taylor (Water P.), J. Garret’s Ghost, Ded. Wit and Mirth: Chargeably Collected … Made vp and fashioned into Clinches, Bulls, Quirkes, Yerkes, Quips and Ierkes.
a. 1652. Brome, Novella, IV. i. (1653), L 6. Sir, use your jerks and quillets at the bar.
1889. A. H. Bullen, Musa Proterva, Pref. Some happy jerk of fancy or playful sally of wit.
† 4. A short abrupt series of notes (of a bird). Obs.
1766. Pennant, Zool. (1768), II. 333. They [the call-birds] invite the wild ones by what the bird-catchers call short jerks.
1773. Barrington, in Phil. Trans., LXIII. 252. The short bursts of singing birds, contending with each other (called jerks by the bird-catchers), are equally distinguished from what I term song, by their not continuing for four seconds.
1797. Prisc. Wakefield, Mental Improv. (1800), 230. The invitation is given by what is called jerks, in the language of the bird-catchers.
