Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • noun A high-velocity fluid stream forced under pressure out of a small-diameter opening or nozzle.
  • noun An outlet, such as a nozzle, used for emitting such a stream.
  • noun Something emitted in or as if in a high-velocity fluid stream.
  • noun A jet-propelled vehicle, especially a jet-propelled aircraft.
  • noun A jet engine.
  • intransitive verb To travel by jet aircraft.
  • intransitive verb To move very quickly.
  • intransitive verb To propel outward or squirt, as under pressure.
  • noun A dense black coal that takes a high polish and is used for jewelry.
  • noun A deep black.
  • adjective Made of or resembling a dense, black, highly polished coal.
  • adjective Black as coal; jet-black.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • noun A solid, dry, black, inflammable fossil substance, harder than asphalt, susceptible of high polish, and glossy in its fracture, which is conchoidal or undulating.
  • noun The color of jet; a deep, rich, glossy black.
  • Made of the mineral jet: as, jet beads; jet ornaments.
  • To throw out; shoot out; spurt forth, especially from a small orifice; spout; spurt.
  • To shoot forward; shoot out; project; jut.
  • To strut; stalk; assume a haughty or pompous carriage; be proud.
  • To encroach offensively.
  • To jerk; jolt.
  • To turn round or about.
  • noun A sudden shooting forth; a spouting or spurting, as of water or flame from a small orifice.
  • noun That which so issues or spurts: as, a jet of water; a jet of blood; a jet of gas.
  • noun A spout, or the end of a spout or nozle, for the emission of a liquid or gas: as, a rose-jet; a gas-jet.
  • noun In metal-casting: A channel or tube for introducing melted metal into a mold.
  • noun A small projecting piece of the metal, consisting of what remained in the hole through which the liquid metal was run into the mold: this has to be filed off before the casting can be finished. Compare runner.
  • noun In pyrotechnics, a rocket-case filled with a burning composition, and attached to the circumference of a wheel or the end of a movable arm to give it motion.
  • noun A large water-ladle.
  • noun A descent; a declivity.
  • noun Fashion; manner; custom; style.
  • noun Artifice; contrivance.
  • noun [A form of or substitute for gist, of the same ult. origin.] Point; drift; scope.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • intransitive verb obsolete To strut; to walk with a lofty or haughty gait; to be insolent; to obtrude.
  • intransitive verb obsolete To jerk; to jolt; to be shaken.
  • intransitive verb To shoot forward or out; to project; to jut out.
  • noun A shooting forth; a spouting; a spurt; a sudden rush or gush, as of water from a pipe, or of flame from an orifice; also, that which issues in a jet.
  • noun obsolete Drift; scope; range, as of an argument.
  • noun The sprue of a type, which is broken from it when the type is cold.
  • noun (Naut.) a device for propelling vessels by means of a forcible jet of water ejected from the vessel, as by a centrifugal pump.
  • noun a device in which a small jet of steam, air, water, or other fluid, in rapid motion, lifts or otherwise moves, by its impulse, a larger quantity of the fluid with which it mingles.
  • transitive verb To spout; to emit in a stream or jet.
  • noun obsolete Same as 2d get.
  • noun (Min.) A variety of lignite, of a very compact texture and velvet black color, susceptible of a good polish, and often wrought into mourning jewelry, toys, buttons, etc. Formerly called also black amber.
  • noun (Zoöl.) a blackish European ant (Formica fuliginosa), which builds its nest of a paperlike material in the trunks of trees.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • noun A hard, black form of coal, sometimes used in jewellery.
  • noun The colour of jet coal, deep grey.
  • adjective Very dark black in colour.
  • noun A collimated stream, spurt or flow of liquid or gas from a pressurized container, an engine, etc.

Etymologies

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition

[French, from Old French, from jeter, to spout forth, throw, from Vulgar Latin *iectāre, alteration of Latin iactāre, frequentative of iacere, to throw; see yē- in Indo-European roots.]

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition

[Middle English, from Anglo-Norman geet, from Latin gagātēs, from Greek, after Gagas, a town of Lycia.]

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

From Old French / French jet, jayet, Latin gagates after Ancient Greek Γαγάτης (Gagatēs), from Γάγας (Gagas, "a town and river in Lycia").

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

From French jet, Old French get giet, Latin iactus ("a throwing, a throw"), from iacere ("to throw"). See abject, ejaculate, gist, jess, jut.

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Examples

  • When was the term "jet set" widely believed to have been coined?

    BBC News - Home 2011

  • As in going around like a jet is a disguise, a deception.

    Matthew Yglesias » The Ontology of Transformers 2009

  • We're going to have to wait until sunset and those flames will start to settle down because the winds will start to settle down, as what we call the jet stream decouples from the atmosphere.

    CNN Transcript May 22, 2008 2008

  • And then overhead, we have very fast winds into the higher levels of the atmosphere, what we call the jet stream.

    CNN Transcript Feb 6, 2008 2008

  • This type of crime can be handled under the old maritime laws, and his attempt to blow up the jet is similar to an attempted act of piracy on the seas.

    Coyote Blog » Blog Archive » How Is This Different From Citizens United 2010

  • A sensible libertarian would look at your suggestion that Oprah's jet is a poor use of resources when some people don't have adequate medical care and be opposed to that level of suggested redistribution, but be comfortable with funding the court system.

    Faith in Leaders, Arnold Kling | EconLog | Library of Economics and Liberty 2009

  • "If we can do that [commercialize biofuels for aviation], that gives our customers an alternative supply of fuel, and hopefully we could smooth out some of the spikes in jet fuel prices and allow airline operators to be more financially stable," Mr. Bryant said.

    Boeing Plans China Biofuel Test Norihiko Shirouzu 2010

  • Billowy sleeves, sexy open backs, deep ruffles in jet black and gem tones, elegant satins and chiffons, fur vests and skirts for spring and a distinctly retro silhouette all contributed to the grand, theatrical whole.

    Yves Saint Laurent Spring/Summer 2011: High Fashion Drama (PHOTOS, POLL) Nathalie Michelle Gorman 2010

  • Technology could allow backup pilots to take control of a passenger jet from the ground.

    Imagining a Day When Airliners Are Flown Solo Scott McCartney 2010

  • Inside of 40 years, from World War I to the Korean conflict, pilots went from shooting at each other with pistols from propeller-driven biplanes to dueling with cannons and missiles in jet aircraft moving faster than sound.

    The Last Ace 2009

Comments

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  • Obsolete: jet (of the business): heart or gist of the matter.

    December 19, 2007

  • But for fear these evidences should be suspected, here comes the jet of the business.

    Lovelace to Belford, Clarissa by Samuel Richardson

    December 19, 2007

  • "The supersonic stunner is ready to create some major turbulence, so everyone should fasten their seatbelts, return their tray tables to the upright and locked position, and prepare for a crash landing."

    (Official biography on the NBC American Gladiators website)

    September 6, 2008

  • When I was young and had no sense

    In far-off Mandalay

    I lost my heart to a Burmese girl

    As lovely as the day.

    Her skin was gold, her hair was jet,

    Her teeth were ivory;

    I said, "for twenty silver pieces,

    Maiden, sleep with me".

    She looked at me, so pure, so sad,

    The loveliest thing alive,

    And in her lisping, virgin voice,

    Stood out for twenty-five.

    - George Orwell, 'Ironic Poem About Prostitution'.

    October 14, 2008

  • My favorite use of 'jet' is the verb form, the 'move along, of liquids'. I think it would be really effective in writing as synesthesia.

    November 26, 2008