Meaning

(music) A light, brisk musical movement; a gigue..

Definitions by Sense

1. (music) A light, brisk musical movement; a gigue.
2. (traditional Irish music and dance) 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. (traditional English Morris dance) A dance performed by one or sometimes two individual dancers, as opposed to a dance performed by a set or team.
4. (fishing) A type of lure consisting of a hook molded into a weight, usually with a bright or colorful body.
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.
6. (mining) An apparatus or machine for jigging ore.
7. (obsolete) A light, humorous piece of writing, especially in rhyme; a farce in verse; a ballad.
8. (obsolete) A trick; a prank.

Example Sentences

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.

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.

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.

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

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

Word Forms

• jigs
• jigging
• jigged

Related Words

When Should You Use Jig?

Use jig when its meaning, tone and grammar fit the full sentence. A synonym is not always a direct replacement.

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