Loading earlier words…
Jewish

Of or pertaining to the Jews or Hebrews; characteristic of or resembling the Jews or their customs; Israelitish.

Jewry

Judea; also, a district inhabited by Jews; a Jews' quarter.

Jezebel

A bold, vicious woman; a termagant.

Jharal

A wild goat (Capra Jemlaica) which inhabits the loftiest mountains of India. It has long, coarse hair, forming a thick mane on its head and neck.

Jib

To move restively backward or sidewise, -- said of a horse; to balk.

Jibb Jib

To shift, or swing round, as a sail, boom, yard, etc., as in tacking.

Jibe

To change a ship's course so as to cause a shifting of the boom. See Jibe, v. t., and Gybe.

Jiffy

A moment; an instant; as, I will be ready in a jiffy.

Jig

To dance a jig; to skip about.

jigaboo

A negro, especially an African-American; -- an offensive term usually intended as an ethnic slur.

Jigger

To move, send, or drive with a jerk; to jerk; also, to drive or send over with a jerk, as a golf ball.

jiggery-pokery

A verbal misrepresentation intended to take advantage of a person in some way.

Jigging

The act or using a jig; the act of separating ore with a jigger, or wire-bottomed sieve, which is moved up and down in water.

Jiggish

Resembling, or suitable for, a jig, or lively movement.

Jiggle

To wriggle or frisk about; to move awkwardly; to shake up and down.

Jigjog

Having a jolting motion.

Jihad Jehad

A religious war against infidels or Muslim heretics; also, any bitter war or crusade for a principle or belief.

Jill

A young woman; a sweetheart. See Gill.

Jill-flirt

A light, giddy, or wanton girl or woman. See Gill-flirt.

Jilt

To play the jilt; to practice deception in love; to discard lovers capriciously.

Jim Crow

A negro; -- said to be so called from a popular negro dance song, the refrain of which is /Wheel about and turn about and jump Jim Crow,/ produced in 1835 by Thomas D. Rice (1808-1860), a famous negro minstrel; -- considered disparaging and offensive.

Jim-crow

A machine for bending or straightening rails.

jimdandy

someone excellent of their kind; as, he's a jimdandy of a soldier.

jimmies

Small cylindrical bits of sweet chocolate used as a granular topping on e.g. ice cream.

Jimmy

A short crowbar used by burglars in breaking open doors.

jimmy

To pry open (a door, window, etc.) with a jimmy or similar device; often used with open; as, the burglar jimmied open the back door and stole the TV set.

Jimp

Neat; handsome; elegant. See Gimp.

Jingal

A small portable piece of ordnance, mounted on a swivel.

Jingle

A rattling, clinking, or tinkling sound, as of little bells or pieces of metal.

Jingler

One who, or that which, jingles.

Jingling

The act or process of producing a jingle; also, the sound itself; a chink.

jingoism

The policy of the Jingoes, so called. See Jingo, 2.

jingoist

One who is jingoistic; a bellicose patriot; an extreme bellicose nationalist; an aggressive chauvinist.

jingoistic

fanatically and bellicosely patriotic; aggressively chauvinistic; belligerent in international relations.

Jink

To move quickly, esp. with a sudden turn; hence, to dodge; to escape by a quick turn; -- obs. or dial., except as a hunting term in pig-sticking.

jinks

noisy and mischievous merrymaking.

Jinni Jinnee

A genius or demon; one of the fabled genii, good and evil spirits, supposed to be the children of fire, and to have the power of assuming various forms.

Jinrikisha

A small, two-wheeled, hooded vehicle drawn by one or more men.

jinx

To bring bad luck to; to cause to malfunction or go wrong; as, some superstitious people are reluctant to predict success for fear it will jinx them.

Jippo

A waistcoat or kind of stays for women.

jiqui

A Cuban timber tree (Malpighia obovata) with hard wood very resistant to moisture.

jird

Any of several North African gerbils.

jitney

a small bus or similar vehicle carrying passengers on a fixed route, used for public transport.

jitters

an uneasy state; nervousness; as, the prospect of being drafted gave him a bad case of the jitters.

jittery

being in a tense state; easily upset or frightened; -- of a person.

jiujitsu

a method of self-defense without weapons that was developed in China and Japan; holds and blows are supplemented by clever use of the attacker's own weight and strength.

Jiujitsu Jiujutsu Jujitsu Jujutsu

The Japanese art of self-defense without weapons, now widely used as a system of physical training. It depends for its efficiency largely upon the principle of making clever use of an opponent's strength, weight, and movements to disable or injure him, and by applying pressure so that his opposing movement will throw him out of balance, dislocate or break a joint, etc. It opposes knowledge and skill to brute strength, and demands an extensive practical knowledge of human anatomy.

jive

a style of jazz played by big bands popular in the 1930s; flowing rhythms but less complex than later styles of jazz.

Jnr.

Abbreviation for Junior, used after a name by a son who has the same first and last name as his father; -- less commonly used than Jr.

Jo

A sweetheart; a darling.

Job

The hero of the book of that name in the Old Testament; the prototypical patient man.

Jobation

A scolding; a hand, tedious reproof.

Jobber

One who works by the job.

Jobbery

The act or practice of jobbing.

Jobbing

Doing chance work or odd jobs; as, a jobbing carpenter.

jock

a person trained to compete in sports; an athlete.

Jockey

To play or act the jockey; to cheat.

jockey shorts

A type of men's underpants without legs, fitting tightly and held by an elastic waistband; also called briefs. Originally a tradename, the term has become common for that type of underpants.

Jockeying

The act or management of one who jockeys; trickery.

Jockeyship

The art, character, or position, of a jockey; the personality of a jockey.

jockstrap

A supporting undergarment for the external genitals worn by men engaging in vigorous athletic sports or strenuous exercise; called also athletic supporter and jock.

jocose

Given to jokes and jesting; containing a joke, or abounding in jokes; merry; sportive; humorous.

jocosity

A jocose act or saying; jocoseness.

jocote

A common tropical American shrub or small tree (Spondias purpurea) with purplish fruit.

jocularly

In jest; for sport or mirth; jocosely.

Jocundity

The state or quality of being jocund; gayety; sportiveness.

Joe

See Johannes.

joewood

A West Indian shrub or small tree (Jacquinia keyensis) having leathery saponaceous leaves and extremely hard wood.

joey

Any young animal, especially a young kangaroo.

Jog

A slight shake; a shake or push intended to give notice or awaken attention; a push; a jolt.

Jogger

One who jogs; as, the paths in Central Park on a summer Saturday are filled with joggers.

Jogging

The act of giving a jog or jogs; traveling at a jog.

Joggle

A notch or tooth in the joining surface of any piece of building material to prevent slipping; sometimes, but incorrectly, applied to a separate piece fitted into two adjacent stones, or the like.

Johannean

Of or pertaining to John, esp. to the Apostle John or his writings.

Johannes

A Portuguese gold coin of the value of eight dollars, named from the figure of King John which it bears; -- often contracted into joe; as, a joe, or a half joe.

Johannisberger

A fine white wine produced on the estate of Schloss (or Castle) Johannisberg, on the Rhine.

John

A proper name of a man.

Johnny

A familiar diminutive of John.

Johnnycake

A kind of bread made of the meal of maize (Indian corn), mixed with water or milk, etc., and baked.

Johnsonese

The literary style of Dr. Samuel Johnson, or one formed in imitation of it; an inflated, stilted, or pompous style, affecting classical words.

Johnsonian

Pertaining to or resembling Dr. Johnson or his style; pompous; inflated.

Johnsonianism

A manner of acting or of writing peculiar to, or characteristic of, Dr. Johnson.

Join

The line joining two points; the point common to two intersecting lines.

Joiner

One who, or that which, joins.

Joinery

The art, or trade, of a joiner; the work of a joiner; doing the woodwork (as doors, stairs, etc.) necessary for the finishing of buildings.

Joinhand

Writing in which letters are joined in words; -- distinguished from writing in single letters.

Joint

To fit as if by joints; to coalesce as joints do; as, the stones joint, neatly.

Joint-fir

A genus (Ephedra) of leafless shrubs, with the stems conspicuously jointed; -- called also shrubby horsetail. There are about thirty species, of which two or three are found from Texas to California.

Jointed

Having joints; articulated; full of nodes; knotty; as, a jointed doll; jointed structure.

Jointer

One who, or that which, joints.

Jointing

The act or process of making a joint; also, the joints thus produced.

Jointly

In a joint manner; together; unitedly; in concert; not separately.

Jointweed

A slender, nearly leafless, American herb (Polygonum articulatum), with jointed spikes of small flowers.

Jointworm

The larva of a small, hymenopterous fly (Eurytoma hordei), which is found in gall-like swellings on the stalks of wheat, usually at or just above the first joint. In some parts of America it does great damage to the crop.

Joist

To fit or furnish with joists.

Joke

To do something for sport, or as a joke; to be merry in words or actions; to jest.

Loading more words…