Definition of "jerk" in Anglais

noun

1. A sudden, often uncontrolled movement, especially of the human 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.

2. A quick pull on something.

   • When I yell "OK," give the mooring line a good jerk!

3. (originally Canada, US, slang, derogatory) A person with unlikable or obnoxious qualities and behavior, typically mean, 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.

4. (US, slang, derogatory) 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) Masturbation.

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.

verb

1. (intransitive) To make a sudden uncontrolled movement.

2. (transitive) To give a quick, often unpleasant tug or shake.

3. (US, slang, vulgar) To masturbate.

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.

noun

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.

verb

1. To cure (meat) by cutting it into strips and drying it, originally in the sun.