gig

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It's quite disgusting to find out that going from Leeds to London on the train for a gig is actually more expensive, and takes more time, than getting from London to Paris on the

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Definitions (47)

Toggle American Heritage definitions American Heritage Dictionary (15)

  1. noun A light, two-wheeled carriage drawn by one horse.
  2. noun Nautical A long light ship's boat, usually reserved for use by the ship's captain.
  3. noun Nautical A fast light rowboat.

Toggle Century definitions Century Dictionary (19)

Toggle GNU Webster definitions GNU Webster's 1913 (7)

Toggle WordNet definitions WordNet (6)

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Examples (50)

  • Getting the Obama gig was the result of a chance meeting with an Austin native in a Croatian hostel.
  • It's quite disgusting to find out that going from Leeds to London on the train for a gig is actually more expensive, and takes more time, than getting from London to Paris on the —  Telegraph Blogs
  • Sure, Ali was supposed to be a rap star or white hip hop lyricist or something, but a gig is a gig. —  Gawker
  • Actually, the real reason to go to this gig is the opening act: —  East Village Radio
  • One over excited member of the audience decides the gig is a personal question and answer session and repeatedly interrupts. —  Entertainment - Female First
 

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This word has been looked up 178 times.

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Roget's II Roget's II: The New Thesaurus

Allen's Allen's Synonyms and Antonyms

Used in the same context Used in the Same Context

buggy ·  cab ·  yawl ·  coach ·  chaise
Roget's II: The New Thesaurus, Third Edition by the Editors of the American Heritage® Dictionary. Copyright © 2003, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

Etymologies (9)

Toggle American Heritage etymologies American Heritage Dictionary (3)

  1. Perhaps from obsolete gig, spinning top, from Middle English gyg-, possibly of Scandinavian origin.
  2. Short for fishgig.
  3. Origin unknown.

Toggle Century etymologies Century Dictionary (6)

  1. The words spelled gig are of various and obscure origin. Gig has various senses involving the idea of rapid or whirling motion, of which ‘fiddle’ appears to be the oldest; from Icelandic gīgja, a fiddle, = Swedish giga, a Jew′sharp, = Danish gige, a fiddle, = Middle Dutch ghighe = Middle Low German *gige, gigel = Middle High German gīge, German geige, a fiddle; (whence in Roman: Spanish Portuguese Italian giga = Pr.guiga, gigua = Old French gigue, gige, a fiddle, later F. gigue, a lively dance, later English jig: see jig)
  2. See gig, n. Same as jig, v.
  3. Perhaps an additional sense of gig, q. v.
  4. from gig, n.
  5. Properly pronounced jig, but apparently accommodation to gig; from Middle English gigge, from Old French gigues, a gay, lively girl. Cf. Icelandic gikkr, a pert person, Danish gjœk = Swedish gäck, a fool, jester, wag, (see geck). Hence giglet, q. v.
  6. Irreg. from Latin gignere, beget: see genus, gender.
 

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/gɪg/
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