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jig

jig

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jig lively springy dance, music for this; †lively ballad, light dramatic performance; (dial., sl.) joke, sport. XVI. of unkn. orig. The mod. (XIX) applications to various mechanical devices are from jig vb. in the sense ‘move rapidly or jerkiy up and down or to and fro’ (XVII), which most prob. derives from the sb.

The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology

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