gig

plural gigs

1. informalOriginally (music), a performing engagement by a musician or musical group; (by extension, film, television, theater) a job or role for a performer.

   Hey, when are we gonna get that hotel gig again?

   1 more example

   I caught one of the Rolling Stones’ first gigs in Richmond.

2. broadlyinformalAny job, especially one that is freelance or temporary, or done on an on-demand basis.

   I had this gig as a file clerk but it wasn’t my style so I left.

   3 more examples

   That guy’s got a great gig over at the bike shop. He hardly works all day.

   Whether you want to have some occasional translation gigs or turn freelance translating into your fulltime occupation, you'll need to know some essential things […]

   2014 July 24, R. Z. Aklat, “Introduction”, in Become a Freelance Translator, [S.l.]: R. Z. Aklat, →ISBN

   In recent decades, "gig" has become just a hip term for any temporary job or stint, with the implication you're not particularly invested in it. I think of the barista or bookstore clerk who responds to my questions with a look that says, "Hey, man, it's a gig. I don't really DO this?" That tone of insouciance has made "the gig economy" the predominant name for what's being touted as the industrial revolution of our times.

   2016 January 11, Geoffrey Nunberg, “Fresh Air: Goodbye Jobs, Hello ‘Gigs’: How One Word Sums Up a New Economic Reality”, in NPR, archived from the original on 13 Feb 2022

3. USinformalgovernmentA demerit received for some infraction of a military deportment or dress code.

   I received gigs for having buttons of my uniform undone.

present singular third person gigs · participle present gigging · participle past gigged · past gigged

1. informaltransitiveentertainmentTo play (a musical instrument) at a gig.
2. USinformaltransitivegovernmentTo impose a demerit (on someone) for an infraction of a military deportment or dress code.

   His sergeant gigged him for an unmade bunk.

3. informalintransitivebroadcastingTo engage in a musical performance, act in a theatre production, etc.

   The Rolling Stones were gigging around Richmond at the time.

4. broadlyinformalintransitiveTo work at any job, especially one that is freelance or temporary, or done on an on-demand basis.

plural gigs

1. abbreviationclippinginformalcomputingClipping of gigabyte (“one billion (1,000,000,000) bytes”).

   My new computer has over 500 gigs of hard drive space.

   2 more examples

   This picture is almost a gig; don’t you want to resize it?

   The restore would get through between 13 and 20 gigs of data, and then the tape would fail.

   2003, IT Professional's Guide to E-mail Administration, CNET Networks Inc., →ISBN, page 88

2. informalslangsciencesAny unit of measurement having the SI prefix giga-.

plural gigs

1. informalobsoleteA top which is made to spin by tying a piece of string around it and then throwing it so that the string unwinds rapidly; a whipping-top.

   From infancy through childhood's giddy maze, / Frovvard at ſchool, and fretful in his plays, / The puny tyrant burns to ſubjugate / The free republic of the vvhip-gig ſtate.

   1782, William Cowper, “Hope”, in Poems, London: […] J[oseph] Johnson, […], →OCLC, page 151

   2 more examples

   Peda[nt]. Thou diſputes like an Infant: goe vvhip thy Gigg. / Pag[e]. Lende me your Horne to make one, and I vvill vvhip about your Infamie vnũ cita a gigge of a Cuckolds horne.

   Pedant [i.e., Holofernes]. You argue like an infant: go whip your gig. / Page. Lend me your horn to make one, and I will whip about your infamy, [vnũ cita is unclear; perhaps an error for vidcit = videlicet, "namely"], a gig of a cuckold's horn.

   c. 1595–1596 (date written), W. Shakespere [i.e., William Shakespeare], A Pleasant Conceited Comedie Called, Loues Labors Lost. […] (First Quarto), London: […] W[illiam] W[hite] for Cut[h]bert Burby, published 1598, →OCLC, [Act V, scene i]

   Play-things vvhich are above their [children's] Skill to make; as Tops, Gigs, Battledors, and the like, vvhich are to be uſed vvith labour, ſhould indeed be procur'd them: Theſe 'tis convenient they ſhould have, not for Variety, but Exerciſe.

   1695, [John Locke], “§130”, in Some Thoughts Concerning Education. […], 3rd edition, London: […] A[wnsham] and J[ohn] Churchill, […], →OCLC, page 241

2. UKarchaicdialectalinformalschool slang (Eton College)A person with an odd appearance; also, a foolish person.
3. Senses relating to enjoyment.
   1. UKarchaicdialectalinformalslangFun; frolics.

      Such was his toil, when one night coming home, / Such swell uncivil, who'd been out to roam / In search of lark, or some delicious gig / The mind delights in, when 'tis in prime twig,—

      1820, Richard Ranger, “Randall; a Fragment. With Notes”, in Jack Randall’s Diary of Proceedings at the House of Call for Genius. […], London: […] [J. Brettell] for W[illiam] Simpkin and R[ichard] Marshall, […], →OCLC, page 62

   2. informalobsoleteA fanciful impulse; a whim; also, a joke.

      I muſt goe ſee him preſently, / For this is ſuch a gig: for certaine Gentlemen / The Fiend rides on a Fiddleſticke.

      1619, John Fletcher, “The Humorous Lieutenant”, in Comedies and Tragedies […], London: […] Humphrey Robinson, […], and for Humphrey Moseley […], published 1647, →OCLC, Act IV, scene iv, page 141, column 1

4. Senses relating to vehicles.
   1. informalnauticalA small, narrow, open boat carried in a larger ship, and used for transportation between the ship and the shore, another vessel, etc.

      The captain's gig still lies before ye whole and sound, / It shall carry all o' we.

      1979, Stan Rogers, “The Flowers of Bermuda” (track 6), in Between the Breaks … Live!, Dundas, Ont.: Fogarty’s Cove Music

      1 more example

      She [a frigate] also carried a Commodore's Barge, a Captain's Gig, and a "dingy," a small yawl, with a crew of apprentice boys. […] Above all, the officers see to it that the Commodore's Barge and the Captain's Gig are manned by gentlemanly youths, who do credit to their country, and form agreeable objects for the eyes of the Commodore or Captain to repose upon as he tranquilly sits in the stern, when pulled ashore by his barge-men or gig-men, as the case may be.

      1850, Herman Melville, “The Frigate in Harbour—The Boats—Grand State Reception of the Commodore”, in White Jacket; or, The World in a Man-of-War, volume I, London: Richard Bentley, […], →OCLC, page 254

   2. Southern EnglandbroadlyinformalnauticalA similar rowing boat or sailboat, especially one used for racing; specifically, a six-oared sea rowing boat commonly found in Cornwall and the Isles of Scilly.
   3. historicalinformalroadA two-wheeled carriage drawn by a single horse.

      While Sir William was with them, Mr. Collins devoted his mornings to driving him out in his gig, and shewing him the country; […]

      1813 January 27, [Jane Austen], chapter VII, in Pride and Prejudice: […], volume II, London: […] [George Sidney] for T[homas] Egerton, […], →OCLC, page 77

      3 more examples

      Here a coach thundered over the pavement, and there an unwieldy omnibus, with spruce gigs rattling past, and horsemen prancing through all the bustle.

      1837 July, Nathaniel Hawthorne, “[Tales and Sketches.] Fragments from the Journal of a Solitary Man.”, in The Dolliver Romance, and Other Pieces, Boston, Mass.: James R[ipley] Osgood and Company, late Ticknor & Fields, and Fields, Osgood, & Co., published 1876, →OCLC, section I, page 84

      [W]hen he was gone (in the carriage, mind you, not in the gig driven by the groom), I am sure Mrs. Newcome would have written a letter that night to Her Grace the Duchess Dowager, his mamma, full of praise of the dear child, his graciousness, his beauty, and his wit, and declaring that she must love him henceforth and for ever after as a son of her own.

      1854, Arthur Pendennis [pseudonym; William Makepeace Thackeray], “Clive’s Uncles”, in The Newcomes: Memoirs of a Most Respectable Family, volume I, London: Bradbury and Evans, […], →OCLC, page 51

      [T]he room grew stifling warm and vapor clung to the windowpanes, blurring the throng of people still milling outside the courthouse, a row of tethered gigs and buggies, distant pine trees in a scrawny, ragged grove.

      1967, William Styron, “Judgment Day”, in The Confessions of Nat Turner, New York, N.Y.: Random House, →OCLC, page 77

present singular third person gigs · participle present gigging · participle past gigged · past gigged

1. informaltransitiveTo make a joke, often condescendingly, at the expense of (someone); to make fun of.

   His older cousin was just gigging him about being in love with that girl from school.

2. informalintransitiveSometimes followed by it: to ride in a gig (“a two-wheeled carriage drawn by a single horse”).

plural gigs

1. informalobsoleteA frivolous, playful, or wanton young woman; a giglet or giglot.

   Synonyms: fizgig

plural gigs

1. informalfishingSynonym of fishgig or fizgig (“a spear with a barb on the end of it, used for catching fish, frogs, or other small animals”).

   On toward dusk some little gypsy boys whittled gigs from river-birch limbs and went to a backwater and gigged frogs until they had a basketful.

   1997, Charles Frazier, Cold Mountain, London: Hodder and Stoughton, page 122

   Synonyms: fishgig, fizgig

present singular third person gigs · participle present gigging · participle past gigged · past gigged

1. informaltransitivefishingTo spear (fish, etc.) with a gig or fizgig.
2. informalintransitivefishingTo catch or fish with a gig or fizgig.