English
jerk
Pronunciation
  • (British) IPA: /d͡ʒɜːk/
  • (America) IPA: /d͡ʒɝk/
Etymology 1

Probably from Middle English yerk and Middle English yerkid, from Old English ġearc and Old English ġearcian.

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.
    • 1908, G[ilbert] K[eith] Chesterton, The Man Who Was Thursday: A Nightmare, Bristol: J[ames] W[illiams] Arrowsmith, […]; London: Simpkin, Marshall, Hamilton, Kent & Company, →OCLC ↗, page 114 ↗:
      A barrel-organ in the street suddenly sprang with a jerk into a jovial tune.
  2. A quick tug or shake.
    When I yell "OK," give the mooring line a good jerk!
  3. (originally, North America, slang, pejorative) A person with unlikable or obnoxious qualities and behavior, typically mean, self-centered or disagreeable; an arsehole.
    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.
  4. (US, slang, pejorative) A stupid person; an idiot or fool.
  5. (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.
  6. (slang) An act of male masturbation.
    1. (internet slang) An act of satirizing behavior that is, to an extent, common in a community, especially in circlejerk subreddits.
      Jerk of the Year contender
  7. (preceded by definite article) A dance, popular in Western culture in the 1960s, in which the head and upper body is thrown forwards regularly to the beat of the music.
  8. (physics, engineering) The rate of change in acceleration with respect to time.
  9. (US, obsolete) A soda jerk.
Synonyms Translations Translations Translations Translations Translations Verb

jerk (jerks, present participle jerking; simple past and past participle jerked)

  1. (intransitive) To make a sudden uncontrolled movement.
    • [1877], Anna Sewell, “A Strike for Liberty”, in Black Beauty: […], London: Jarrold and Sons, […], →OCLC ↗, part II, page 106 ↗:
      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.
    1. (internet slang) To satirize behavior that is, to an extent, common in a community, especially in circlejerk subreddits.
      This is jerking’s 9/11
  4. (obsolete) To beat, to hit.
  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.
Translations Translations Etymology 2

From American Spanish charquear, from charqui, from Quechua ch'arki.

Noun

jerk (uncountable)

  1. (Caribbean, Jamaica) A rich, spicy Jamaican marinade.
  2. (Caribbean, Jamaica) Meat (or sometimes vegetables) cured by jerking, in which it is coated in spices and slow-cooked over a fire or grill traditionally composed of green pimento wood positioned over burning coals; charqui.
    Jerk chicken is a local favorite.
Related terms Verb

jerk (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.
    Synonyms: jerky
Translations

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