jerk
Pluraljerks
Pluraljerks
- 1Informal: an unpleasant, stupid, or obnoxious person, especially one who is mean or inconsiderate.
Her ex was a real jerk who never once remembered her birthday.
I was a jerk to you yesterday, and I'm sorry.
UsageA mild insult, often in a real jerk or don't be such a jerk; rude, but clean enough for TV.
Note
It started as Canadian and American slang and likes company: a real jerk, or don't be such a jerk, the scolding aimed at Raymond in George Axelrod's screenplay for The Manchurian Candidate (1962).
Checked 2 Nov 2026 · 3 facts
- The insulting sense originated as Canadian and American slang. en.wiktionary.org
- George Axelrod wrote the screenplay for the 1962 film The Manchurian Candidate. en.wikipedia.org
- The words “don't be such a jerk” are addressed to Raymond; the speaker is Eleanor Iselin. en.wiktionary.org
- 2To move, or make someone or something move, with a sudden, sharp motion.
His hand jerked, and coffee splashed across the desk.
Muscles can jerk briefly just as a person is falling asleep.
UsageOften with a direction word or awake: his head jerked up, she jerked awake.
- 3A quick, sharp, sudden movement or pull, often one that is not under control.
His leg gave a jerk every time the doctor tapped his knee.
With a series of jerks, the freight train began to crawl out of the yard.
UsageOften with a jerk: the train started with a jerk.
Similarjolt, twitch, jump, lurch, tug
Note
The noun often comes in with a jerk, telling how something starts: Chesterton's barrel-organ in The Man Who Was Thursday (1908) "sprang with a jerk into a jovial tune".
Checked 2 Nov 2026 · 3 facts
- G. K. Chesterton wrote The Man Who Was Thursday. gutenberg.org
- The Man Who Was Thursday was first published in 1908. en.wikisource.org
- The quoted words describe a barrel-organ in the novel's narration. en.wikisource.org
- 4Meat or vegetables coated in a hot, spicy Jamaican marinade and cooked slowly over a fire or grill; also the marinade or seasoning itself.
The roadside stand sells jerk by the pound, wrapped in foil with hard dough bread.
We ordered jerk with rice and peas, and it was hot enough to make us sweat.
UsageOften before a meat: jerk chicken, jerk pork.
Note
In Jamaica one word covers the method, the seasoning and the finished food, so people order jerk chicken or jerk pork, or simply buy jerk by the pound at a roadside stand.
Checked 2 Nov 2026 · 3 facts
- Jerk denotes both the cooking method and the seasoning or marinade. en.wikipedia.org
- Jerk chicken and jerk pork are sold at Jamaican roadside stands. en.wikipedia.org
- Jerk food can be bought by weight at a Jamaican roadside cook shop. mysilversands.com
- 5A lift in which the weight is driven quickly from shoulder height to overhead and held there briefly with the arms fully extended.
She cleaned the bar easily but lost it forward on the jerk.
His coach spent the whole session drilling the footwork of the jerk.
Note
Competition lifting pairs it with the clean: the bar is first cleaned from the floor to the shoulders, and the jerk then drives it overhead, which is why the event is called the clean and jerk. The lifter dips at the knees, drives up, and often splits the feet or drops under the bar before standing tall to hold it.
Checked 31 Oct 2026 · 4 facts
- The competition lift combines the clean and the jerk and is called the clean and jerk. en.wikipedia.org
- The clean moves the bar from the floor to the shoulders. iwf.sport
- The jerk uses a knee dip and upward drive to raise the bar overhead, with a split or bent-leg receiving position. ewf.sport
- The lifter finishes standing with arms and legs extended and holds the bar motionless until the referees signal. iwf.sport
- 6To masturbate.
The comedian's whole bit was about getting caught jerking it in a dorm room.
Stop bragging about how often you jerk it; nobody wants to know.
UsageOften jerk it or jerk off.
Similarmasturbate, wank
Less common meanings
- 7To slice meat into strips and dry them to cure it, a process originally carried out in the sun.
Settlers jerked buffalo meat on racks in the sun to carry on the long trip west.
If you jerk the venison now, it will keep for months.
Note
Meat dried this way becomes jerky. Wallace Stegner's Beyond the Hundredth Meridian (1954) shows the verb at work: a man stalled by snow kills an antelope and jerks a supply of venison. On Caribbean menus, though, jerked chicken means the spiced, slow-grilled Jamaican jerk, not dried strips.
Checked 31 Oct 2026 · 5 facts
- Meat cut into strips and dried becomes jerky. en.wikipedia.org
- Wallace Stegner wrote Beyond the Hundredth Meridian. archive.org
- Beyond the Hundredth Meridian was first published in 1954. libcat.weber.edu
- The book describes a man stalled by snow killing an antelope and jerking venison. en.wiktionary.org
- Jamaican jerk chicken is spiced and slowly cooked over wood, rather than dried meat strips. visitjamaica.com
- 8To lift a weight by means of a jerk, driving it from the shoulders to overhead.
She jerked the bar overhead and held it until the referee signaled.
Few lifters at the meet could jerk that much weight after such a hard clean.
- 9A dance, popular in the West in the 1960s, in which the dancer throws the head and upper body forward in time to the beat.
When the old record came on at the reunion, everyone got up to do the jerk.
My parents learned the jerk at a high school dance and never stopped doing it.
UsageUsually do the jerk.
Note
The Larks' 1964 song "The Jerk" builds its refrain on an invitation to do the dance, urging every listener to get up, join in and learn the steps.
- 10The rate at which acceleration changes over time.
Engineers limit jerk so that passengers aren't thrown off balance when the elevator starts to accelerate.
The software calculates jerk from the accelerometer readings to flag harsh braking.
Similarjolt
Note
Physics counts it as the third derivative of position with respect to time, so it stands to acceleration as acceleration stands to velocity, and its unit is meters per second cubed. Riders feel it as a jolt: a sudden change in acceleration is what throws people off balance, which is why engineers keep jerk low in elevators, trains and roller coasters.
Checked 31 Oct 2026 · 7 facts
- Jerk is the third time derivative of position. courses.physics.illinois.edu
- Jerk relates to acceleration as acceleration relates to velocity: each is the time derivative of the preceding quantity. math.hws.edu
- The SI unit of jerk is meters per second cubed. en.wikipedia.org
- Sudden changes in acceleration can cause passengers to lose their balance. digitalcommons.usf.edu
- Engineers minimize jerk in elevators for passenger comfort. math.hws.edu
- Train engineers limit jerk for passenger comfort. math.ucr.edu
- Roller coaster designers minimize jerk for comfort and to avoid abruptly changing forces. opus.lib.uts.edu.au
- 11A soda jerk: someone who works behind a soda fountain, mixing and serving drinks and ice cream.
Note
The job itself kept its full name, soda jerk; only the clipped jerk has fallen out of American use. Said alone today, a jerk behind the counter would be heard as the insult, so a writer describing an old drugstore fountain should spell out soda jerk.
Checked 31 Oct 2026 · 2 facts
- The occupation is called soda jerk. en.wiktionary.org
- Jerk is an obsolete American shortening of soda jerk. en.wiktionary.org
- 12To throw something with a quick motion of the hand that is suddenly stopped.
Similarfling, chuck, sling, pitch, hurl
Note
Throwing was once within the word's range: to jerk a stone was to fling or shy it, the hand snapping forward and stopping short as the stone flies. The use is obsolete, so in old texts a boy who jerks a pebble is throwing it, not tugging at it.
Checked 31 Oct 2026 · 3 facts
- Historically, jerk could mean to throw or fling a stone. en.wiktionary.org
- The throwing motion involved abruptly stopping the hand as the object was released. en.wikisource.org
- The throwing sense is obsolete; it explains the illustrative pebble example. en.wiktionary.org
- 13To beat or strike.
Similarbeat, hit, strike, thump, batter
Note
Older writing could use jerk for a blow as well as a pull, which leaves room for misreading: a driver who jerked his mule may have struck it rather than tugged its halter. The hitting use is obsolete, so a modern reader's instinct is the quick tug; when an old text puts a switch or a ruler in someone's hand, read it as a blow.
Checked 31 Oct 2026 · 2 facts
- Historically, jerk could mean to strike or lash, supporting the hypothetical interpretation of striking the mule. gutenberg.org
- The hitting sense is obsolete. en.wiktionary.org
- 14Masturbation, or an act of masturbating.
- 15A piece of satire mocking behavior that is fairly common in a community, especially on circlejerk subreddits.
- 16To poke satirical fun at habits that are fairly widespread among members of a community, a practice especially associated with circlejerk subreddits.
- 17To flout or scorn openly, treating someone or something with contempt.
Showing meanings only.
Practice
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Origins
Probably from Middle English yerk (“sudden motion”) and yerkid (“tightly pulled”), from Old English ġearc (“ready, active, quick”) and ġearcian (“to prepare, make ready, procure, supply”). It is cognate with Scots yerk (“to jerk”) and also related to English yare (“ready”).
Checked 31 Oct 2026 · 5 facts
- Jerk probably derives from Middle English yerk and yerkid, with the stated meanings. en.wiktionary.org
- The proposed derivation connects these forms with Old English ġearc and ġearcian. en.wiktionary.org
- Old English ġearcian meant to prepare, make ready or supply. en.wiktionary.org
- Jerk is cognate with Scots yerk, meaning to jerk. en.wiktionary.org
- Jerk is related to English yare, meaning ready. en.wiktionary.org
From jerky, which came from Spanish charqui, from Quechua ch'arki.