different between jigget vs jigger

English

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation, General American) IPA^(key): /?d????t/
• Homophone: gigot
• Hyphenation: jig?get

Etymology 1

See gigot.

Noun

jigget (plural jiggets)

1. Archaic spelling of gigot.

Related terms

• jiggot, jigot

Etymology 2

Possibly related to jiggle.

Verb

jigget (third-person singular simple present jiggets, present participle jiggetting or jiggeting, simple past and past participle jiggetted or jiggeted)

1. (dated) To gad; to move from one place to another in a (seemingly) flippant or idle manner.
   • 1814, Fanny Burney, The Wanderer, or, Female difficulties, page 290:

     " […] and jiggetting to outlandish countries, you'll do well to give her a hint to keep astern of me; for I shall never uphold a person who behaves o' that sort."

   • 1818, Mary Russel Mitford, in a letter to William Elford, The Life of Mary Russell Mitford, page 288:

     I don't believe he is ever two days in a place — always jiggeting about from one great house to another.

   • 1831, Walter Scott, The Abbot, in Waverley novels, volume 19, page 230:

     […] here you stand jiggetting, and sniggling, and looking cunning, as if there were some mighty matter of intrigue and common understanding betwixt you and me, whom you never set your eyes on before!

   • 1906, Richard Davey, The pageant of London, volume 2, page 365:

     […] but although he knew his Queen was dead, he went on jiggetting as if nothing had happened!

English

Pronunciation

• (US) IPA^(key): /?d????/
• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /?d????/
• Rhymes: -???(?)

Etymology 1

From jig +? -er (agent suffix).

Merriam-Webster's Collegiate Dictionary suggests a possible link to Old High German g?ga (“fiddle”).

Noun

jigger (plural jiggers)

1. (US) A double-ended vessel, generally of stainless steel or other metal, one end of which typically measures 1 ½ fluid ounces, the other typically 1 fluid ounce.
   • 2000, Robert B. Hess, drinkboy.com:

     A good jigger will have a well formed lip that will pour a clean stream into the cocktail shaker or glass.
2. (US) A measure of 1 ½ fluid ounces of liquor.
3. (US, slang) A drink of whisky.
4. (mining) The sieve used in sorting or separating ore.
5. (mining) One who jigs; a miner who sorts or cleans ore by the process of jigging.
6. (pottery) A horizontal lathe used in producing flatware.
   • 2004, thepotteries.org, "Jiggering":

     Hand jiggers consisted of two iron frames with a spindle in each - the driving spindle with its iron belt pulley approximately 20 inches in diameter and the driven spindle with a small wooden pulley.

7. (textiles) A device used in the dyeing of cloth.
8. A pendulum rolling machine for slicking or graining leather.
9. (Britain, slang, dated) A bicycle.
   • 1932, Frank Richards, "The Complete Outsider", The Magnet:

     He made the discovery that the bikestand was vacant and the machine gone. "Where the thump's my jigger?" he exclaimed.

10. (golf, dated) A golf club used to play low flying shots to the putting green from short distances.
11. A warehouse crane.
12. (nautical) A light tackle, consisting of a double and single block and the fall, used for various purposes, as to increase the purchase on a topsail sheet in hauling it home; the watch tackle.
13. (nautical) A jiggermast.
14. (nautical, New England) A small fishing vessel, rigged like a yawl.
15. (fishing) A device used by fishermen to set their nets under the ice of frozen lakes.
16. (archaic) One who dances jigs; an odd-looking person.
17. (New Zealand) A short board or plank inserted into a tree for a person to stand on while cutting off higher branches.
18. (US) A placeholder name for any small mechanical device.
    • 1915, Printers' Ink, page 119:

      “an air-brush is a big thing-a-ma-bob or whatcha-callit, full of gas, and when you turn on a little jigger, it causes compressed air to squeeze out, which, in turn, going through a needle—” “That wasn't part of the contract, Mr. Jones,” […]

19. (rail transport, New Zealand) A railway jigger, a small motorized or human powered vehicle used by railway workers to traverse railway tracks.
20. The bridge or rest for the cue in billiards.
21. (horse racing) An illicit electric shock device used to urge on a horse during a race.
22. (archaic) A streetcar drawn by a single horse.
23. (archaic) A kind of early electric cash register.

Synonyms

• (pottery lathe): jolley
• (nautical mast): jiggermast
• (measure of liquor): pony
• (placeholder name): thingamajig; doojigger; see also Thesaurus:thingy
• (rail vehicle): handcar; speeder

Translations

Verb

jigger (third-person singular simple present jiggers, present participle jiggering, simple past and past participle jiggered)

1. To alter or adjust, particularly in ways not originally intended.

   You'll have to jigger it from the original specifications to get it to work.

2. (pottery) To use a jigger.
3. To move, send, or drive with a jerk; to jerk; also, to drive or send over with a jerk, as a golf ball.
   • 1899, Carlyle Smith, "The Secret of Golf", Harper's Magazine:

     He could jigger the ball o'er a steeple tall as most men would jigger a cop.

Synonyms

• (use a pottery jigger): jolley

Derived terms

• jiggerer
• jiggered

See also

• fudge
• tweak

Etymology 2

Likely a corruption of chigoe. Merriam-Webster's Collegiate Dictionary suggests a possible derivation from Wolof jiga (“insect”).

Noun

jigger (plural jiggers)

1. A sandflea, Tunga penetrans, of the order Siphonaptera; chigoe.
2. A larva of any of several mites in the family Trombiculidae; chigger, harvest mite.

Etymology 3

A slang term of unknown origin, originally meaning prison. Oxford English Dictionary suggests that its origin might be the same as Etymology 1, above.

Alternative forms

• gigger, gyger, jegger

Noun

jigger (plural jiggers)

1. (slang, archaic) A prison; a jail cell.
2. (dialect, Liverpudlian, dated) An alleyway separating the backs of two rows of houses.
3. (slang, euphemistic) A penis.
4. (slang, euphemistic) A vagina.
5. (obsolete, Britain, thieves' cant) A door.
6. (slang) An illegal distillery.
7. (slang, Britain) A lock pick.

Synonyms

• (alleyway): See Thesaurus:alley

Derived terms

• jigger-dubber (“jailer”)

Verb

jigger (third-person singular simple present jiggers, present participle jiggering, simple past and past participle jiggered)

1. (slang, obsolete) To imprison.
   • 1870, J.T. Campion, "Billy in the Bowl", The Shamrock volume 8, page 107:

     ...offering to swear an alibi for the prisoner [...] to ensure an acquittal. Terms: £50 for value received. No pay if jiggered.

2. (slang, archaic) To confound; to damn.
   • 1831, John Banim, The Smuggler page 231:

     jigger me, but I think you be turning jest into earnest,

   • 1887, Frances Hodgson Burnett, Little Lord Fauntleroy page 173:

     It had always been his habit to say, "I will be jiggered," but this time he said, "I am jiggered."

References

• Oxford English Dictionary, 1884–1928, and First Supplement, 1933..
• Merriam-Webster's Collegiate Dictionary, 10th Edition. Merriam-Webster, 1993.
• jigger in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, G. & C. Merriam, 1913.