jerk.
A sudden, often uncontrolled movement, especially of the human body.
Meaning & usage
A sudden, often uncontrolled movement, especially of the human body.
A quick pull on something.
When I yell "OK," give the mooring line a good jerk!
A person with unlikable or obnoxious qualities and behavior, typically mean, immoral, self-centered, or disagreeable.
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.
A stupid person; an idiot or fool.
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.
Masturbation.
Masturbation. An act of satirizing behavior that is, to an extent, common in a community, especially in circlejerk subreddits.
Jerk of the Year contender
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.
The rate of change in acceleration with respect to time.
Ellipsis of soda jerk.
Where this word comes from
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”).
To make a sudden uncontrolled movement.
To give a quick, often unpleasant tug or shake.
To masturbate.
To masturbate. To satirize behavior that is, to an extent, common in a community, especially in circlejerk subreddits.
This is jerking’s 9/11
To beat, to hit.
To throw with a quick and suddenly arrested motion of the hand.
to jerk a stone
To lift using a jerk.
To flout with contempt.
Where this word comes from
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”).
A rich, spicy Jamaican marinade.
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.
Where this word comes from
Denominal verb of jerky, itself borrowed from Spanish charqui, from Quechua ch'arki.
To cure (meat) by cutting it into strips and drying it, originally in the sun.
Where this word comes from
Denominal verb of jerky, itself borrowed from Spanish charqui, from Quechua ch'arki.
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Definitions, grammatical labels, IPA, etymology and examples: Wiktionary contributors, extracted by Kaikki / Wiktextract. Adapted under CC BY-SA 4.0. Selected fields and authored examples are shown; third-party quotations and audio are omitted. See contributor history.
Last enriched 2026-09-10. Definitions are in English. Romanizations are shown when supplied by the source; syllable estimates are omitted for unsupported scripts.