v. [dim. or frequentative of JIG v.] To move backwards and forwards, or up and down, with a light unsteady motion; to move in a rapid succession of slight jerks; to rock or jerk lightly. a. trans.
1836. Sir G. Head, Home Tour, 13. The more the child cried, the more she jiggled it.
1887. Jessopp, Trials Country Parson (1890), i. 23. We know that the fellow was jiggling the poor brute’s teeth out of his mouth at the time.
b. intr.
1846. Worcester, Jiggle v. n., to practise affected or awkward motions, to wriggle. Mrs. Farrar.
1880. Jamieson’s Dict., To Jiggle, v.n., to rock or shake backwards and forwards. Shetl.
1887. Jessopp, Arcady, i. 10. He shambles to the next brewery with any beast of burden that can jiggle along.
Hence Jiggling vbl. sb.; also Jiggle sb., a ‘jiggling’ movement; a light rapid rocking.
1888. Gail Hamilton, in N. Amer. Rev., Jan., 59. It is only a little wilder jiggle.
1894. R. Kipling, Seven Seas (1896), 225.
| The Injian Ocean sets an’ smiles | |
| So sof’, so bright, so blommin’ blue; | |
| There aren’t a wave for miles an’ miles | |
| Excep’ the jiggle from the screw. |
1894. Times, 1 March, 3/5. The chief novelties claimed in the plaintiffs’ invention were the use of narrower jiggling sieves, in proportion to the lateral area of the machine; a deflector [etc.]. Ibid. The jiggling of the sieve caused the heavier particles to fall through and the larger but lighter to pass off over the tail.
