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English
Pronunciation
Etymology 1
Probably from Middle English yerk (“sudden motion”) and Middle English yerkid (“tightly pulled”), from Old English ġearc (“ready, active, quick”) and Old English ġearcian (“to prepare, make ready, procure, furnish, supply”). Cognate with Scots yerk (“to jerk”). Related also to English yare (“ready”).
Alternative forms
Noun
jerk (plural jerks)
- 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.
- A quick tug or shake.
When I yell "OK," give the mooring line a good jerk!
- (originally Canada, US, slang, derogatory) 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.
- (US, slang, derogatory) A stupid person; an idiot or fool.
- (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.
- (slang) An act of male masturbation.
- (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.
1964, “The Jerk”, Don Julian (lyrics), performed by The Larks:Girls, hey, what's that you're doing
Girl, girl, what's that you're doing
You got to show me the steps to it
Somehow, gonna learn how to do it
Doing the jerk
Hey, do the jerk
Girl, come on and work
Hey, do the jerk.
- (physics, engineering) The rate of change in acceleration with respect to time.
- (US, obsolete) A soda jerk.
Usage notes
Synonyms
- (sudden movement): jolt, lurch, jump
- (quick tug): yank
- (unlikable person): asshole, bastard, twat, knobhead, tosser, wanker, git, dick; see Thesaurus:jerk.
- (stupid person): numbskull
- (physics, change in acceleration): jolt (British), surge, lurch
Derived terms
Translations
sudden, uncontrolled movement
- Arabic: رَعَشَة f (raʕaša)
- Bulgarian: рязко движение (rjazko dviženie)
- Chinese:
- Mandarin: 痙攣/痉挛 (zh) (jìngluán)
- Dutch: tic (nl) m
- Finnish: nytkähdys (fi), säpsähdys (fi)
- French: tic (fr), myoclonie (fr), clonie (fr), convulsion (fr), spasme (fr), tressaillement (fr), sursaut (fr), soubresaut (fr)
- Georgian: სპაზმი (sṗazmi), კრუნჩხვა (ḳrunčxva), ტოკვა (ṭoḳva)
- German: Zuckung f
- Icelandic: kippur m, viðbragð (is) n
- Interlingua: spasmo
- Italian: sobbalzo (it), scatto (it), spasmo (it), tic (it)
- Portuguese: tique (pt) m, cacoete (pt) m, trejeito (pt) m, espasmo (pt) m
- Russian: вздра́гивание (ru) n (vzdrágivanije), подёргивание (ru) n (podjórgivanije), спазм (ru) m (spazm) (spasm), су́дорога (ru) f (súdoroga) (cramp), тик (ru) m (tik) (tic)
- Spanish: tic m, espasmo (es) m, estremecimiento (es), repullo
- Swedish: ryckning (sv) c, spasm (sv) c
- Turkish: silki (tr), titreme (tr)
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quick, often unpleasant tug or shake
- Arabic: هَزَّة f (hazza)
- Bulgarian: дърпане (bg) n (dǎrpane), друсане (bg) n (drusane)
- Chinese:
- Mandarin: 抖 (zh) (dǒu)
- Dutch: ruk (nl) m
- Finnish: nykäisy (fi), nykäys (fi), kiskaisu
- French: secousse (fr), saccade (fr), cahot (fr)
- Georgian: ხელის კვრა (xelis ḳvra), კვრა (ḳvra)
- German: Ruck (de) m
- Icelandic: rykkur m, kippur m
- Interlingua: succussa
- Italian: strattone (it), strappo (it)
- Maori: pahiwi
- Portuguese: puxada f, sacudida (pt) f
- Russian: рыво́к (ru) m (ryvók), толчо́к (ru) m (tolčók) (push)
- Spanish: sacudida (es) f, tirón (es), tumbo (es)
- Swedish: ryck (sv) n, skakning (sv) c, knyck (sv) c
- Turkish: ani hareket
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unlikable person
- Arabic: (please verify) أحمق or (please verify) مغفل
- Chinese:
- Mandarin: 傻瓜 (zh) (shǎguā), 蠢人 (zh) (chǔnrén), 笨蛋 (zh) (bèndàn)
- Czech: blb (cs) m, blbec (cs) m, debil (cs) m, idiot (cs) m, kretén (cs) m, pitomec (cs) m
- Danish: fjols c, idiot (da) c
- Dutch: zak (nl) m, lul (nl) m, droplul (nl) m, klojo (nl) m
- Esperanto: stultulo (eo), idioto, aĉulo (eo)
- Finnish: paskiainen (fi), ääliö (fi), idiootti (fi), mulkku (fi) (vulgar)
- French: conard (fr) m, connard (fr) m, con (fr) m, crétin (fr)
- German: Arsch (de) m, Arschloch (de) n, Schwein (de) m, Trottel (de) m, Hanswurst (de) m, Flasche (de) f, Wichser (de) m, Saftsack (de) m, Sackarsch m
- Greek: κόπανος (el) m (kópanos)
- Hindi: चांडाल (hi) m (cāṇḍāl)
- Hungarian: seggfej (hu), geci (hu)
- Indonesian: bajingan (id), bangsat (id), brengsek (id), sontoloyo (id)
- Interlingua: vexator
- Italian: idiota (it), scemo (it), stronzo (it), babbeo (it) m, chiavica f, buco del culo m
- Macedonian: шутрак m (šutrak)
- Portuguese: estúpido (pt), abécula (pt)
- Russian: подле́ц (ru) m (podléc), негодя́й (ru) m (negodjáj), гад (ru) m (gad), гни́да (ru) f (gnída), муда́к (ru) m (mudák), деби́л (ru) m (debíl)
- Spanish: cretino (es) m, imbécil (es), culeado (es) m (Latin America), tipejo, soplagaitas (es)
- Swedish: tölp (sv) c, idiot (sv) c
- Tagalog: gago (tl)
- Turkish: aşağılık kimse, pislik (tr)
- Urdu: چنڈال m
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physics: rate of change in acceleration
weightlifting: type of lift
Translations to be checked
See also
Verb
jerk (third-person singular simple present jerks, present participle jerking, simple past and past participle jerked)
- (intransitive) To make a sudden uncontrolled movement.
, 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.
- (transitive) To give a quick, often unpleasant tug or shake.
- (US, slang, vulgar) To masturbate.
- (obsolete) To beat, to hit.
- (obsolete) To throw with a quick and suddenly arrested motion of the hand.
to jerk a stone
- (usually transitive, weightlifting) To lift using a jerk.
- (obsolete) To flout with contempt.
Derived terms
Translations
intransitive: to make a sudden uncontrolled movement
transitive: to give a quick, often unpleasant tug or shake
Translations to be checked
See also
Etymology 2
From American Spanish charquear, from charqui, from Quechua ch'arki.
Noun
jerk (uncountable)
- (Caribbean, Jamaica) A rich, spicy Jamaican marinade.
2016, Fodor's Essential Caribbean, Fodor's Travel, →ISBN:Sunshine ranks high in the island's greates burger debate, while the chicken egg rolls with mango chutney and jerk mayo and fabulous fish tacos elevate pub grub to an art.
- (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
Translations
A rich, spicy Jamaican marinade; a dish made with such a marinade
Verb
jerk (third-person singular simple present jerks, present participle jerking, simple past and past participle jerked)
- To cure (meat) by cutting it into strips and drying it, originally in the sun.
- Synonym: jerky
2011, Dominic Smith, Bright and Distant Shores, page 106:The Lemakot in the north strangled widows and threw them into the cremation pyres of their dead husbands. If they defeated potential invaders the New Irish hanged the vanquished from banyan trees, flensed their windpipes, removed their heads, left their intestines to jerk in the sun.
2016, Fodor's Travel Guides, Fodor's Essential Caribbean, Fodor's Travel, →ISBN:This longtime West End eatery prepares chicken the way locals like it: curried, fried, jerked, and baked.
Translations
to cure by cutting into strips and drying
French
Etymology
From English.
Pronunciation
Noun
jerk m (plural jerks)
- jerk (dance)
Further reading
Lower Sorbian
Alternative forms
Etymology
From Proto-Slavic *jьkrà.
Noun
jerk m inan
- roe
Further reading
- Muka, Arnošt (1921, 1928) “jerk”, in Słownik dolnoserbskeje rěcy a jeje narěcow (in German), St. Petersburg, Prague: ОРЯС РАН, ČAVU; Reprinted Bautzen: Domowina-Verlag, 2008
- Starosta, Manfred (1999) “jerk”, in Dolnoserbsko-nimski słownik / Niedersorbisch-deutsches Wörterbuch (in German), Bautzen: Domowina-Verlag
Manx
Verb
jerk (verbal noun jerkal, past participle jerkit)
- to expect
Mutation