different between jerk vs tow

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 1

From Middle English towen, from Old English togian, from Proto-Germanic *tug?n? (Middle High German zogen, German ziehen, Dutch tijgen, Old Norse toga), from Proto-Indo-European *dewk-.

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) enPR: t?, IPA^(key): /t??/
• (US) enPR: t?, IPA^(key): /to?/
• Rhymes: -??
• Homophone: toe

Verb

tow (third-person singular simple present tows, present participle towing, simple past and past participle towed)

1. (transitive) To pull something behind one using a line or chain; to haul.
2. (running, cycling, motor racing, etc.) To aid someone behind by shielding them from wind resistance.

Translations

Noun

tow (plural tows)

1. The act of towing and the condition of being towed.

   It isn't the car's battery; I think I need a tow.

2. Something, such as a tugboat, that tows.
3. Something, such as a barge, that is towed.
4. A rope or cable used in towing.
5. (motor racing) A speed increase given by driving in front of another car on a straight, which causes a slipstream for the car behind.

Translations

Derived terms

Etymology 2

From Middle English touw, from Old English tow- (“spinning”) (in compounds, e.g. towcræft, towh?s, towlic), from Proto-Germanic *taww?; compare Old Norse tó (“uncleansed wool”), Dutch touw (“rope”). Perhaps cognate with Old English tawian (“prepare for use”), Gothic ???????????????????????? (taujan, “do, make”).

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) enPR: t?, IPA^(key): /t??/, (rare) enPR: tou, IPA^(key): /ta?/
• (US) enPR: t?, IPA^(key): /to?/

Noun

tow (countable and uncountable, plural tows)

1. An untwisted bundle of fibers such as cellulose acetate, flax, hemp or jute.

   • And the strong shall be as tow, and the maker of it as a spark, and they shall both burn together, and none shall quench them.

   1. (specifically) The short, coarse, less desirable fibers separated by hackling from the finer longer fibers (line).

Derived terms

• tow haired
• towhead

Related terms

• taw

Synonyms

• hards, oakum

Translations

References

Anagrams

• OTW, WTO, owt, two, wot

Middle English

Alternative forms

• towe, tow?, tow?e, tough, towhe, togh, tawe, toow

Etymology

From Old English tow-; for more see English tow.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /t?u?/
• Rhymes: -?u?

Noun

tow

1. Unprepared flax, especially used as a firestarter.
2. The fibrous matter of flax or a similar plant; (tow).
3. Oakum, hards; the rough portion of flax separated during hackling.

Descendants

• English: tow
• Scots: towe

References

• “tou, n.(1).”, in MED Online, Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Michigan, 2007, retrieved 2018-05-27.