jig

American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition

1. n. Any of various lively dances in triple time.
2. n. The music for such a dance. Also called gigue.
3. n. A joke or trick. Used chiefly in the phrase The jig is up.
4. n. A typically metal fishing lure with one or more hooks, usually deployed with a jiggling motion on or near the bottom.
5. n. An apparatus for cleaning or separating crushed ore by agitation in water.
6. n. A device for guiding a tool or for holding machine work in place.
7. v. To dance or play a jig.
8. v. To move or bob up and down jerkily and rapidly.
9. v. To operate a jig.
10. v. To bob or jerk (something) up and down or to and fro.
11. v. To machine (an object) with the aid of a jig.
12. v. To separate or clean (ore) by shaking a jig.
13. idiom. in jig time Informal Very quickly; rapidly.
14. n. Offensive Slang Used as a disparaging term for a Black person.

Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia

1. n. A rapid, irregular dance for one or more persons, performed in different ways in different countries; a modification of the country-dance.
2. n. Music for such a dance or in its rhythm, which is usually triple and rapid: often used in the eighteenth century as a component of a suite.
3. n. A lively song; a catch.
4. n. A kind of entertainment in rime, partly sung and partly recited.
5. n. A piece of sport; a prank; a trick.
6. n. A small, light mechanical contrivance: same as jigger, 2: used especially in composition: as, a drilling-jig, shaving-jig, etc. Specifically— A jigging-machine.
7. To play or dance a jig.
8. To move skippingly or friskily; hop about; act or vibrate in a lively manner. Compre jigget.
9. To use a jig in fishing; fish with a jig: as, to jig for bluefish.
10. To sing in jig time; sing as a jig.
11. To jerk, jolt, or shake; cause to move by jogs or jolts.
12. To produce an up-and-down motion in.
13. In metallurgy, to separate the heavier metalliferous portion of (the mingled ore and rock or veinstone obtained in mining) from the lighter or earthy portions, by means of a jig or jigging-machine. The jig was originally a box with a metallic bottom perforated with holes. In this the ore was placed, and the whole was moved rapidly up and down by hand in water, thus causing the material in the box to arrange itself in layers according to its specific gravity. Jigging is now usually dune by more complicated machinery, acting continuously; but the principle remains the same. The essential feature of a jigging-machine is the admission of the water from below; in the bud the the water comes in contact with the ore from above.
14. To catch (a fish) by jerking a hook into its body.
15. In felting, to harden and condense by repeated blows from rods.
16. In well-boring, to drill with a spring-pole.
17. To trick; cheat; impose; upon; bamboozle.

Wiktionary

1. n. music A light, brisk musical movement; a gigue.
2. n. 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.
3. n. A dance performed by one or sometimes two individual dancers, as opposed to a dance performed by a set or team.
4. n. fishing A type of lure consisting of a hook molded into a weight, usually with a bright or colorful body.
5. n. 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.
6. v. To move briskly, especially as a dance.
7. v. fishing To fish with a jig.

GNU Webster's 1913

1. n. (Mus.) A light, brisk musical movement.
2. n. obsolete A light, humorous piece of writing, esp. in rhyme; a farce in verse; a ballad.
3. n. obsolete A piece of sport; a trick; a prank.
4. n. A trolling bait, consisting of a bright spoon and a hook attached.
5. n. (Metal Working) A small machine or handy tool. A contrivance fastened to or inclosing a piece of work, and having hard steel surfaces to guide a tool, as a drill, or to form a shield or template to work to, as in filing.
6. n. (Mining) An apparatus or a machine for jigging ore.
7. v. To sing to the tune of a jig.
8. v. To trick or cheat; to cajole; to delude.
9. v. (Mining) To sort or separate, as ore in a jigger or sieve. See Jigging, n.
10. v. (Metal Working) To cut or form, as a piece of metal, in a jigging machine.
11. v. To dance a jig; to skip about.
12. v. To move with a skip or rhythm; to move with vibrations or jerks.

WordNet 3.0

1. v. dance a quick dance with leaping and kicking motions
2. n. a fisherman's lure with one or more hooks that is jerked up and down in the water
3. n. any of various old rustic dances involving kicking and leaping
4. n. a device that holds a piece of machine work and guides the tools operating on it
5. n. music in three-four time for dancing a jig