Definitions and meaning of gig
gig
Pronunciation
- enPR: gĭg, IPA(key): /ɡɪɡ/
-
- Rhymes: -ɪɡ
Etymology 1
Of uncertain origin. According to one theory, from Middle English gige (“fiddle”) and Middle English *gygge (found in Middle English whyrlegygge (“a top, whirligig, a rotating device”)), akin to Old Norse gígja (“fiddle”) and German Geige (“violin”). The earliest usage of the word gig in the sense of “any, usual temporary, paid job” found by linguist Geoffrey Nunberg is from a 1952 piece by Jack Kerouac about his gig as a part-time brakeman for the Southern Pacific railroad.
Noun
gig (plural gigs)
- (informal, music) A performing engagement by a musical group; or, generally, any job or role, especially for a musician or performer.
- I caught one of the Rolling Stones' first gigs in Richmond.
- Hey, when are we gonna get that hotel gig again?
- (informal, by extension) Any job; especially one that is temporary; or alternately, one that is very desirable.
- I had this gig as a file clerk but it wasn't my style so I left.
- Hey, that guy's got a great gig over at the bike shop. He hardly works all day
- A forked spear for catching fish, frogs, or other small animals.
- Synonym: leister
- (historical) A two-wheeled horse-drawn carriage.
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- 1868, The Family Herald
- Years ago the cravers for sensation were delighted with the real gig and horse with the aid of which Mr. Thurtell murdered Mr. Weare.
- 1967, William Styron, The Confessions of Nat Turner, Vintage 2004, page 77:
- the room grew stifling warm and vapor clung to the windowpanes, blurring the throng of people still milling outside the courthouse, a row of tethered gigs and buggies, distant pine trees in a scrawny, ragged grove.
- (Southern England, nautical) A six-oared sea rowing boat commonly found in Cornwall and the Isles of Scilly.
- (nautical) An open boat used to transport the captain of a ship, the captain's gig.
- (US, military) A demerit received for some infraction of military dress or deportment codes.
- I received gigs for having buttons undone.
Derived terms
Translations
Verb
gig (third-person singular simple present gigs, present participle gigging, simple past and past participle gigged)
- To fish or catch with a gig, or fish spear.
- To engage in musical performances.
- The Stones were gigging around Richmond at the time
- To make fun of; to make a joke at someone's expense, often condescending.
- His older cousin was just gigging him about being in love with that girl from school.
- (US, military) To impose a demerit for an infraction of a dress or deportment code.
- His sergeant gigged him for an unmade bunk.
Translations
Derived terms
References
Etymology 2
Clipping of giga-, as in gigabyte, gigaunit, etc.
Noun
gig (plural gig or gigs)
- (colloquial, computing) Clipped form of gigabyte.
- This picture is almost a gig; don't you wanna resize it?
- My new computer has over 500 gigs of hard drive space.
- (slang) Any unit having the SI prefix giga-
Translations
Etymology 3
From Middle English gigge, from Old French gigues (“a gay, lively girl”), from Old Norse gikkr (“a pert person”), related to Danish gjæk (“a fool; jester”), Swedish gäck (“a fool; jester; wag”). More at geck.
Noun
gig (plural gigs)
- (obsolete) A playful or wanton girl; a giglot.
Synonyms
Etymology 4
Probably from Latin gignere (“to beget”).
Verb
gig (third-person singular simple present gigs, present participle gigging, simple past and past participle gigged)
- To engender.
- (Can we find and add a quotation of Dryden to this entry?)
References
- “gig” in Lexico, Dictionary.com; Oxford University Press.
- gig on Wikipedia.Wikipedia
Anagrams
Welsh
Noun
gig
- Soft mutation of cig (“meat”).
Mutation
Zhuang
Pronunciation
- (Standard Zhuang) IPA(key): /kik˧/
- Tone numbers: gig8
- Hyphenation: gig
Etymology 1
Borrowed from Chinese 極 (MC ɡɨk̚).
Adverb
gig (Sawndip form 亟, old orthography gig)
- extremely; highly; very
Etymology 2
Borrowed from Chinese 激 (MC kek̚).
Verb
gig (old orthography gig)
- to provoke; to agitate
Source: wiktionary.org- to catch fish with a pronged spear.
(source: Collins Scrabble Dictionary)