What is "jerk"

Jerk \Jerk\ (j[~e]rk), v. t. [Corrupted from Peruv. charqui dried beef.] To cut into long slices or strips and dry in the sun; as, to jerk beef. See Charqui.

Jerk \Jerk\, v. t. [imp. & p. p. Jerked (j[~e]rkt); p. pr. & vb. n. Jerking.] [Akin to yerk, and perh. also to yard a measure.]

1. To beat; to strike. [Obs.]
   --Florio.

2. To give a quick and suddenly arrested thrust, push, pull, or twist, to; to yerk; as, to jerk one with the elbow; to jerk a coat off.

3. To throw with a quick and suddenly arrested motion of the hand; as, to jerk a stone.

Jerk \Jerk\, v. i.

1. To make a sudden motion; to move with a start, or by starts.
   --Milton.

2. To flout with contempt.

Jerk \Jerk\, n.

1. A short, sudden pull, thrust, push, twitch, jolt, shake, or similar motion.

   His jade gave him a jerk.
   --B. Jonson.

2. A sudden start or spring.

   Lobsters . . . swim backwards by jerks or springs.
   --Grew.

3. A foolish, stupid, or otherwise contemptible person.

   Syn: jerkoff.

4. (Sport) The lifting of a weight, in a single rapid motion, from shoulder height until the arms are outstretched above the head; distinguished from press in that the motion in a jerk is more rapid, and the body may be moved under the weight to assist completion of the movement; as, a clean and jerk of two hundred pounds.

   2. Calisthenic exercises, such as push-ups or deep knee bends; also called physical jerks. [British]

"to pull," 1540s, "to lash, strike as with a whip," of uncertain origin, perhaps echoic. Related: Jerked; jerking.

as a method of preserving meat, 1707, American English, from American Spanish carquear, from charqui (see jerky). Related: Jerked.

"tedious and ineffectual person," 1935 (the lyric in "Big Rock Candy Mountain" apparently is "Where they hung the Turk [not jerk] that invented work"), American English carnival slang, of uncertain origin. Perhaps from jerkwater town (1878), where a steam locomotive crew had to take on boiler water from a trough or a creek because there was no water tank [Barnhart, OED]. This led 1890s to an adjectival use of jerk as "inferior, insignificant." Alternatively, or influenced by, verbal phrase jerk off "masturbate" [Rawson].

1550s, "stroke of a whip," from jerk (v.1). Sense of "sudden sharp pull or twist" first recorded 1570s. Meaning "involuntary spasmodic movement of limbs or features" first recorded 1805. As the name of a popular dance, it is attested from 1966. Sense in soda jerk attested from 1883, from the pulling motion required to work the taps.

Etymology 1 alt. 1 A sudden, often uncontrolled movement, especially of the body. 2 A quick, often unpleasant tug or shake. 3 (context US slang pejorative English) A dull or stupid person. 4 (context US slang pejorative English) A person with unlikable or obnoxious qualities and behavior, typically mean, self-centered(,) or disagreeable. 5 (context physics engineering English) The rate of change in acceleration with respect to time. 6 (context obsolete English) A soda jerk. 7 (context weightlifting English) 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. n. 1 A sudden, often uncontrolled movement, especially of the body. 2 A quick, often unpleasant tug or shake. 3 (context US slang pejorative English) A dull or stupid person. 4 (context US slang pejorative English) A person with unlikable or obnoxious qualities and behavior, typically mean, self-centered(,) or disagreeable. 5 (context physics engineering English) The rate of change in acceleration with respect to time. 6 (context obsolete English) A soda jerk. 7 (context weightlifting English) 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. vb. 1 (context intransitive English) To make a sudden uncontrolled movement. 2 (context transitive English) To give a quick, often unpleasant tug or shake. 3 (context US slang vulgar English) To masturbate. 4 (context obsolete English) To beat, to hit. 5 (context obsolete English) To throw with a quick and suddenly arrested motion of the hand. 6 (context usually transitive weightlifting English) To lift using a jerk. 7 (context obsolete English) To flout with contempt. Etymology 2

n. 1 (context Caribbean English) A rich, spicy Jamaican marinade 2 (context Caribbean English) Meat cured by jerking; charqui. vb. To cure (meat) by cutting it into strips and drying it, originally in the sun.

1. v. pull, or move with a sudden movement; "He turned the handle and jerked the door open" [syn: yank]

2. move with abrupt, seemingly uncontrolled motions; "The patient's legs were jerkings" [syn: twitch]

3. make an uncontrolled, short, jerky motion; "his face is twitching" [syn: twitch]

4. jump vertically, with legs stiff and back arched; "the yung filly bucked" [syn: buck, hitch]

5. throw or toss with a quick motion; "flick a piece of paper across the table"; "jerk his head" [syn: flick]

1. n. a dull stupid fatuous person [syn: dork]

2. an abrupt spasmodic movement [syn: jerking, jolt]

3. (mechanics) the rate of change of velocity [syn: rate of acceleration]

4. a sudden abrupt pull [syn: tug]

Jerk were an Australian industrial metal band formed in 1998. They released a sole album, When Pure Is Defiled (April 2003), with the line-up of Charles Cilia, Leeno Dee, Johnathan Devoy and Lamar Lowder, which peaked at No. 38 on the ARIA Albums Chart. Their song "Sucked In" was used in the video games, Need for Speed: Underground and NHL 2004. Jerk supported gigs by Marilyn Manson, Insane Clown Posse, Killing Joke and Disturbed on their respective tours.

In physics, jerk, also known as jolt, surge, or lurch, is the rate of change of acceleration; that is, the derivative of acceleration with respect to time, and as such the second derivative of velocity, or the third derivative of position. Jerk is a vector, and there is no generally used term to describe its scalar magnitude (more precisely, its norm, e.g. "speed" as the norm of the velocity vector). According to the result of dimensional analysis of jerk, [length/time], the SI units are m/s (or m·s); jerk can also be expressed in standard gravity per second (g/s).

Jerk or the Jerk may refer to:

• a colloquialism for narcissist

Titled works:

• Jerk (album), by hHead
• Jerk (play)
• The Jerk (1979), film
• "The Jerk" (House episode) on television
• "Jerk", a 1996 song by Kim Stockwood

Other:

• Jerk (band)
• Jerk (dance)
• Jerk (physics), aspect of variable motion

Jerk is the second album by Canadian alternative/indie rock band hHead, released in 1994. The prize money that hHead won from a CFNY-FM contest went towards paying the costs for making this album. Some critics say that this album sounded a lot more 'produced' than the previous album, Fireman, mainly because of the style change, from a garagey sound to a more professional sound.

Videos were made for "Answers" and "Happy".

The jerk was a popular or fad dance in the 1960s.

Jerk is a one-person puppet play by the American writer Dennis Cooper, made in collaboration with director Gisèle Vienne and performer Jonathan Capdevielle, based on Cooper's 1993 novel of the same name. It is based on the story of serial killer Dean Corll and his teenage accomplices David Brooks and Elmer Wayne Henley. The play develops the conceit that Brooks has learnt puppetry in prison and, as part of his rehabilitation, acts out the murders in which he participated via the use of glove puppets and ventriloquism. The performance also involved sections in which the audience read about the murders in pamphlets, entitled "Two Texts for a Puppet Play by David Brooks" that were distributed.

The production premiered on 5 March 2008 in Brest, France. The play was also performed in an English-language version at the South London Gallery as part of the Paris Calling season of performing arts, opening on 1 July 2009. Its performance included music by Peter Rehberg.

In his analysis of Jerk, theater scholar Jordan Schildcrout states, "The production becomes a meta-puppet show when the actor playing David is giving voice to the puppets playing the killers, who in turn give voice to the puppets playing the corpses... In the final scenario, though, David abandons his puppets and does all the voices, including his own, as a ventriloquist, not moving his lips, as if he is also losing his humanity, becoming increasingly inanimate. In the story, David is ultimately alone in a house of corpses, and in performance he is alone on an empty stage, with only lifeless puppets sharing the space."