jig

noun

1. A light, brisk musical movement; a gigue.
2. (Irish, traditional)A lively dance in 6/8 (double jig), 9/8 (slip jig) or 12/8 (single jig) time; a tune suitable for such a dance. By extension, a lively traditional tune in any of these time signatures. Unqualified, the term is usually taken to refer to a double (6/8) jig.

   “They danced a jig.”

   “Soon Marshall is doing an elaborate foot-to-foot jig, and then they're all bounding around. Shoulder dips. Yee-ha faces. It's an impromptu hoedown.”

3. A dance performed by one or sometimes two individual dancers, as opposed to a dance performed by a set or team.
4. A type of lure consisting of a hook molded into a weight, usually with a bright or colorful body.

   “They were waked out of their bunks one black night by yells of "Squid O!" from Salters, and for an hour and a half every soul aboard hung over his squid-jig—a piece of lead painted red and armed at the lower end with a circle of pins bent backward like half-opened umbrella ribs.”

5. A device in manufacturing, woodworking, or other creative endeavors for controlling the location, path of movement, or both of either a workpiece or the tool that is operating upon it. Subsets of this general class include machining jigs, woodworking jigs, welders' jigs, jewelers' jigs, and many others.

   “Cutting circles out of pinewood is best done with a compass-style jig.”

   “The bodywork employs, where possible, the same constructional methods as for the standard B.R. coaching stock, in order to utilise existing jigs and press tools.”

   “The craze for realism now led the toy manufacturers to try to make their models from still secret plans for the new cars. Should a car firm scrap its plans and jigs, the toy firm had to follow suit.”

6. An apparatus or machine for jigging ore.
7. (obsolete)A light, humorous piece of writing, especially in rhyme; a farce in verse; a ballad.

   “A jig shall be clapped at, and every rhyme / Praised and applauded by a clamorous chime.”

8. (obsolete)A trick; a prank.

   “This Innovation? Is't not a fine Jigg? / A precious cunning in the late Protector / To shuffle a new Prince into the State.”

9. (US, dated, ethnic, offensive, slang, slur)A black person.

   ““You got a new jig, huh?” The boy looked out at Jones through his swirls of oiled hair. “What happened to the last one? He die or something?””

   “This type of pickpocket, it should be noted, is passing from the scene; most class cannons now operating are old-timers. “The only youngsters I see breaking in on the whiz are jigs, and they are coining a bebop lingo that is something. […]”

   ““…Lucky for me he wasn’t a jig, otherwise I couldn’t have done it.” “Jig?” “Nigger. Afro American.” His voice was heavy with sarcasm.”

10. radiotelephony clear-code word for the letter J.

verb

1. To move briskly, especially as a dance.

   “The guests were jigging around on the dance floor.”

2. To move with a skip or rhythm; to move with vibrations or jerks.

   “the candle-flame stretched itself tall, and began jigging up and down.”

   “[…]and the fin would jig off slowly, as if it were looking for nothing at all.”

3. To fish with a jig.
4. To sing to the tune of a jig.

   “No, my complete master, but to jig off a tune at the tongue’s end, canary to it with your feet, humor it with turning up your eyelids,”

5. To trick or cheat; to cajole; to delude.

   “Make thy moan to ballad singers and rhymers ; they'll jig out thy wretchedness and abominations to new tunes”

6. To sort or separate, as ore in a jigger or sieve.
7. To cut or form, as a piece of metal, in a jigging machine.
8. To skip school or be truant.