Also 7 gig, (gidge). [Closely related to JIG sb. (q.v.), but not known so early. In some senses it approaches obs. F. giguer (15th c.) to gambol, freak, sport, nasalized ginguer to leap, kick, wanton (which is app. not related to OF. gigue); but this resemblance may be merely accidental, or due to parallel onomatopœic influence, the large number of words into which jig- enters indicating that it has been felt to be a natural expression of a jerking or alternating motion. See the words following, and cf. FIG, FRIG. Some of the senses evidently arose independently from JIG sb., and the historical order of the whole is unascertained.]
1. a. trans. To sing or play as a jig, or in the style of a jig (see JIG sb. 2, 3). ? Obs.
1588. Shaks., L. L. L., III. i. 11. To Iigge off a tune at the tongues end, canarie to it with the feete, humour it with turning vp your eie.
1633. Ford, Love’s Sacr., III. i. Make thy moan to ballad-singers and rhymers; they’ll jig out thy wretchedness and abominations to new tunes.
b. trans. To dance (a jig or other lively dance).
1719. D’Urfey, Pills, IV. 100. We Jig the Morris upon the Green.
1802. Mrs. J. West, Infidel Father, III. 151. A gentleman … jigged country dances the same evening for six hours.
1837. Carlyle, Fr. Rev., III. V. iv. While this brave Carmagnole-dance has hardly jigged itself out.
c. intr. To dance a jig; to dance in a rapid, jerky, lively fashion. Also to jig it.
1672. Maypole Dance, in Westminster Drollery, II. 80. For Willy has gotten his Jill, And Johnny has got his Joan, To jig it, jig it, jig it, jig it, Jig it up and down!
1713. Steele, Guardian, No. 147, ¶ 2. The bride thoughtlessly jigging it about the room.
1764. Foote, Mayor of G., II. Wks. 1799, I. 187. Are all the women engaged? why then my locum tenens and I will jig together.
1798. Jane Austen, Northang. Abb., viii. I suppose you and I are to stand up and jig it together again.
1883. Cornh. Mag., June, 718. The country dances commenced, in which the beau monde threw off its statelier graces, and bobbed, capered, jigged and grinned.
d. (to jig it.) To play the fiddle briskly.
1780. Mayne, Siller Gun, II. xxiv. Jock Willison, a Sutor bred, Wha, for the fiddle, left his trade, Jigg’d it far better than he sped.
2. intr. To move up and down or to and fro with a rapid jerky motion; in quot. 1886 of a fish = JIGGER v.1
1604. Shaks., Ham., III. i. 150 (2nd Qo.). You gig [Fol. gidge] and amble, and you list, you nickname Gods creatures, and make your wantonnes ignorance.
1713. C’tess Winchilsea, Misc. Poems, 28.
| That Phillis, tho’ not up she rose, | |
| Kept time with every thrilling Close, | |
| And jigg’d upon her Seat. |
1869. Blackmore, Lorna D., xxx. The girls’ feet were already jigging.
1876. T. Hardy, Ethelberta (1890), 121. His hands under his coat-tails, and his person jigging up and down upon his toes.
1886. H. P. Wells, Amer. Salmon Fisherman, 160. He [a 32 lb. salmon] begins to jig—a series of short, heavy and sudden jerks.
b. trans. To move (any thing) with a light jerky motion; to jerk to and fro or up and down.
1710. Duncan Gray, in Whitelaw, Bk. Sc. Song (1875), 82. I maun sit the leelang day An’ jeeg the cradle wi my tae.
1834. M. Scott, Cruise Midge (1863), 60. The rushing water … closing in on the rudder making it cheep as it was jigged from side to side with a buzzing gurgle.
1888. Sci. Amer., 29 Dec., 403/2. When the carriage [of a sawmill] is to be jigged back, the lever manipulating the rock shaft is moved from the saw.
3. intr. To move in unison with; to agree, ‘jump,’ chime with. rare.
1838. Fraser’s Mag., XVII. 63. My manhood cannot to it stoop: It jigs not with my wants or wishes.
† 4. trans. To put off with a trick (see JIG sb. 5). Obs.
1633. Ford, Love’s Sacr., III. iii. Do not think the gloss Of smooth evasion … Shall jig me off; I’ll know’t, I vow I will.
5. To dress (ore) so as to separate the coarser and finer portions, by shaking it under water in a sieve or a box with perforated bottom, or by means of a machine operating in a similar way.
1778. Pryce, Min. Cornub., 235. This coarser size … is jigged pure and clean, if it be well given for Ore. Ibid., Gloss. s.v. Jigging, In the Lead Mines, the Jigged Ore goes by the name of Peasy.
1855. Cornwall, 228. The ores are now given to boys, who jig them, or shake them in a sieve under water, by which means the ore or heavy part keeps at the bottom, whilst the spar, or refuse, is scraped from the top.
1875. J. H. Collins, Metal Mining, 112. The best ore when so crushed is ready for sale, but the seconds has next to be ‘jigged.’… The sieves are made to move up and down for a few minutes with a peculiar jerking motion while dipping in water.
6. To catch (a fish) by jerking a hook into its body; to catch with a jig (see JIG sb. 6 c). b. intr. To fish with a jig.
1883. Chas. Hallock, Sportsman’s Gazetteer (rev. ed.), 243. Keep the line constantly in motion, and half the time you will ‘jig’ them in the belly, tail or side, as the finny mass moves over the hook.
7. To shape an earthen vessel with a jigger (see JIGGER sb.1 5 a).
1865. [see JIGGING vbl. sb. 2].
8. In Well-boring, To bore with the aid of a spring-pole, which jerks up the rods and drill after the stroke. (U.S.)
