jerk

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“
In a slow, steady haul they were to be relied upon; but they never could be got to jerk, and a jerk is an important feature in stump-hauling tactics.

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Definitions (50)

Toggle American Heritage definitions American Heritage Dictionary (18)

  1. transitive verb To give a sudden quick thrust, push, pull, or twist to.
  2. transitive verb To throw or toss with a quick abrupt motion.
  3. transitive verb To utter abruptly or sharply: jerked out the answer.
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Toggle Century definitions Century Dictionary (14)

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

Toggle WordNet definitions WordNet (11)

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Examples (50)

  • She kind of felt like a jerk, a small and petty person. —  Suzannes Diary for Nicholas
  • Turns out the guy everyone always thinks is a jerk is actually a pretty nice guy. —  Crazy Days and Nights
  • Being a jerk is his bad side, but everyone has a bad side, even Edward. —  Entertainment Weekly's PopWatch
  • The first wave of Twitter hatred tended to be visceral and knee-jerk, a reaction to the site's unique ability to make everyone using it sound annoying and pathetic. —  AlterNet.org Main RSS Feed
  • The situation might be tougher when the jerk is your boss. —  Philly.com - Latest Videos
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Related

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

gasp ·  shake ·  twitch ·  twist ·  kick ·  tug ·  jolt ·  snap ·  lurch ·  leap ·  shove ·  gesture

Used in the same contextWord Family

jerk:   jerks ·  jerked ·  jerking
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 (5)

Toggle American Heritage etymologies American Heritage Dictionary (2)

  1. Origin unknown.
  2. Back-formation from jerky2.

Toggle Century etymologies Century Dictionary (3)

  1. Recorded (first in latter part of the 16th century) in 3 forms: (1) jerk (ierk, n., Levins, 1570), jerke; (2) gerke (Minsheu, 1627), cf. “girk, a rod, also to chastise or beat” (Halliwell); (3) yerk, English dial. and Scots yerk, yark: orig. strike or beat, especially with a whip or rod. The typical, form is yerk, the initial j and g being palatal, and not sibilant. Origin uncertain; an equivalent term jert (Cotgrave) suggests that all these forms are dial. variations of the older gird, which has the same sense. See yerk.
  2. from jerk, v.
  3. Chiefly as past participle adjective, in the phrase jerked beef; from jerk, n.
 

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/dʒərk/
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