English

Noun

jigger ‎(plural jiggers)

A jigger (sense 1)

1. (US) A double-ended vessel, generally of stainless steel or other metal, one end of which typically measures 1 1/2 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 1/2 fluid ounces of liquor.
3. (mining) The sieve used in sorting or separating ore.
4. (mining) One who jigs; a miner who sorts or cleans ore by the process of jigging.
5. (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.

6. (textiles) A device used in the dyeing of cloth.
7. A pendulum rolling machine for slicking or graining leather.
8. (golf, dated) A wooden or metal headed golf club used to play low flying shots to the putting green from short distances.
9. (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.
10. (nautical) A jiggermast.
11. (nautical, New England) A small fishing vessel, rigged like a yawl.
12. (fishing) A device used by fishermen to set their nets under the ice of frozen lakes.
13. (archaic) One who dances jigs; an odd-looking person.
14. (New Zealand) A short board or plank inserted into tree for a person to stand on while cutting off higher branches.
15. (US) A placeholder name for any small mechanical device.
16. (rail transport, New Zealand) A railway jigger, a small motorized or human powered vehicle used by railway workers to traverse railway tracks.

Synonyms

• (pottery lathe): jolley
• (nautical mast): jiggermast
• (measure of liquor): pony
• (placeholder name): thingamajig; doojigger; see also Wikisaurus:thingy

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.

Noun

jigger ‎(plural jiggers)

1. (slang, archaic) A prison; a jail cell.
   • 1990 November 18, Supreme Court of Iowa, “Harper v. State, 463 N.W.2d 418 (Iowa 1990)”, in Court Listener:

     According to a disciplinary notice, a correctional officer saw a "jigger string" coming from cell H-2 to Harper's cell. A jigger string is used to move objects between cells.

2. (dialect, Scouse, dated) An alleyway separating the backs of two rows of houses.
   • 1967, Peter Madden, “The Supreme Winnower”, in Blackwood's Edinburgh Magazine, volume 301, William Blackwood, OCLC 405827705, page 178:

     "It's jus' through this jigger and round the back of the next block." She hurried through the alleyway in front of me; the pressing back-yard walls prevented anything more than single file.

3. (slang, euphemistic) A ****.
   • 1931, Chloe Owings, A Research in Parental Sex Education, University of Minnesota Press, OCLC 4756160, page 245:

     Well, they saw a little boy on the street and his **** was hanging out and they said his "jigger" was hanging out, and I said, "Well, maybe his mother didn't tell him differently."

4. (slang, euphemistic) A ****.
   • 2002, Nalo Hopkinson, “Paris, 1842”, in Elizabeth Ruth, editor, Bent on Writing: Contemporary Queer Tales, Toronto: Women's Press, ISBN 1459320301, page 23:

     A tiny pulse from Lisette's thigh beat under my ear: stroke, stroke, stoke. I contemplated the thick red bush of her jigger, so close to my face.

5. (slang) A door.
6. (slang) An illegal distillery.

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

• James A. H. Murray [et al.], editor (1884–1928) A New English Dictionary on Historical Principles (Oxford English Dictionary), London: Clarendon Press, OCLC 15566697; and The Oxford English Dictionary; being a Corrected Re-issue with an Introduction, Supplement, and Bibliography of A New English Dictionary on Historical Principles (the First Supplement), Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1933, OCLC 2748467..
• Merriam-Webster's Collegiate Dictionary, 10th Edition. Merriam-Webster, 1993.
• jigger in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, G. & C. Merriam, 1913