different between jerk vs assclown

English

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA^(key): /d????k/
• (US) IPA^(key): /d???k/
• Rhymes: -??(?)k

Etymology 1

Probably from Middle English yerk (“sudden motion”) and Middle English yerkid (“tightly pulled”), from Old English ?earc (“ready, active, quick”) and Old English ?earcian (“to ready, prepare”). Compare Old English ?earcian (“to prepare, make ready, procure, furnish, supply”). Related to yare.

Alternative forms

• yark

Noun

jerk (plural jerks)

1. A sudden, often uncontrolled movement, especially of the body.
   • 1856, Gustave Flaubert, Madame Bovary, Part III Chapter X, translated by Eleanor Marx-Aveling

     The black cloth bestrewn with white beads blew up from time to time, laying bare the coffin. The tired bearers walked more slowly, and it advanced with constant jerks, like a boat that pitches with every wave.

2. A quick, often unpleasant tug or shake.

   When I yell "OK," give the mooring line a good jerk!

3. (US, slang, derogatory) A dull or stupid person.
4. (Canada, US, slang, derogatory) A person with unlikable or obnoxious qualities and behavior, typically mean, self-centered, or disagreeable.
   • I finally fired him, because he was being a real jerk to his customers, even to some of the staff.
   • You really are a jerk sometimes.
5. (physics, engineering) The rate of change in acceleration with respect to time.
6. (obsolete) A soda jerk.
7. (weightlifting) A lift in which the weight is taken with a quick motion from shoulder height to a position above the head with arms fully extended and held there for a brief time.

Usage notes

• Jerk is measured in metres per second cubed (m/s³) in SI units, or in feet per second cubed (ft/s³) in imperial units.

Synonyms

• (sudden movement): jolt, lurch, jump
• (quick tug): yank
• (stupid person): numbskull
• (unlikable person): asshole, bastard, twat, knobhead, tosser, wanker, git, dick; see Thesaurus:jerk.
• (physics, change in acceleration): jolt (British), surge, lurch

Derived terms

• jerkish
• soda jerk

Translations

Verb

jerk (third-person singular simple present jerks, present participle jerking, simple past and past participle jerked)

1. (intransitive) To make a sudden uncontrolled movement.
   • 1877, Anna Sewell, Black Beauty Chapter 23[1]

     York came to me first, whilst the groom stood at Ginger's head. He drew my head back and fixed the rein so tight that it was almost intolerable; then he went to Ginger, who was impatiently jerking her head up and down against the bit, as was her way now.

2. (transitive) To give a quick, often unpleasant tug or shake.
3. (US, slang, vulgar) To masturbate.
4. (obsolete) To beat, to hit.

   (Can we find and add a quotation of Florio to this entry?)

5. (obsolete) To throw with a quick and suddenly arrested motion of the hand.

   to jerk a stone

6. (usually transitive, weightlifting) To lift using a jerk.
7. (obsolete) To flout with contempt.

Derived terms

• jerk off
• jerksome

Translations

See also

• acceleration
• displacement
• velocity
• jounce

Etymology 2

From American Spanish charquear, from charqui, from Quechua ch'arki.

Noun

jerk (uncountable)

1. (Caribbean, Jamaican) A rich, spicy Jamaican marinade.
2. (Caribbean, Jamaican) Meat cured by jerking; charqui.

   Jerk chicken is a local favorite.

Related terms

• jerky (noun)

Translations

Verb

jerk (third-person singular simple present jerks, present participle jerking, simple past and past participle jerked)

1. To cure (meat) by cutting it into strips and drying it, originally in the sun.

Translations

French

Etymology

From English

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /d???k/

Noun

jerk m (plural jerks)

1. jerk (dance)

Further reading

• “jerk” in Trésor de la langue française informatisé (The Digitized Treasury of the French Language).

Manx

Verb

jerk (verbal noun jerkal, past participle jerkit)

1. to expect

Mutation

English

Etymology

ass +? clown

Pronunciation

• (General American, Canada) IPA^(key): /?æs?kla?n/

Noun

assclown (plural assclowns)

1. (Canada, US, slang, vulgar) A jerk; a buffoon; a person who is inept or ill-behaved to the point of being found laughable by others.
2. (Canada, US, slang, vulgar) A jerk; a buffoon; a person who uses his/her nature to bring humor to others, but ends up being the butt of a joke.
   • 2006, Brad Bauer, Hitting in the Clutch, iUniverse (2006), ?ISBN, page 141:

     I'm a little loaded, and this assclown behind me has bumped me four times in a row.

   • 2006, Megan McCafferty, Charmed Thirds, Three Rivers Press (2006), ?ISBN, page 261:

     "Pretentious, ambitionless assclown," I corrected.

   • 2012, Jef With One F, "5 Horrible Lessons Ender's Game Teaches Kids", Houston Press, 19 June 2012:

     Card is a raging homophobic assclown who believes that America should rise up violently and overthrow the government for any hint of support of same-sex marriage.

Derived terms

• assclownery

See also

• asshat

Anagrams

• Clawsons