Meanings
rigger1
plural riggers
- One who rigs or dresses; as:
- One whose occupation is to fit the rigging of a ship or of a counterweight system.
So far there was not a hitch. The workpeople, to be sure — riggers and what not — were most annoyingly slow; but time cured that. It was the crew that troubled me.
1881–1882, Robert Louis Stevenson, Treasure Island, London; Paris: Cassell & Company, published 14 November 1883, →OCLC - One whose occupation is to lift and move large and heavy objects (such as industrial machinery) with the help of cables, hoists, and other equipment.
What if the rigger (the person who anchors the grids to the building ceiling) mishangs a single cable?
1998, Glen Ballou, Handbook for Sound Engineers: The New Audio Cyclopedia, page 1250 - animationOne whose occupation is to outfit a computer model with controls for animation.
It is common that after the rig is created an animator asks the rigger to create new controls, because the character needs to support new poses or simply needs to look better.
2012, Verónica Orvalho, Pedro Bastos, Frederic Parke, Bruno Oliveira, Xenxo Alvarez, “A Facial Rigging Survey: State of the Art Report”, in EUROGRAPHICS
- One who rigs or manipulates (an election, etc).
An election rigger who assumes illegitimate political power would be primarily motivated to spread their corrosive toxins across the political system, thus rendering institutions of government dysfunctional and convoluted.
2018, Cliff Edogun, The Rude Awakening: Nigerian Millennials Take Their Country by Storm., AuthorHouse, →ISBN1 more example
The real riggers of electoral boundaries in New South Wales were those who got loose after 1965. When the boys from George Street and Ash Street got loose there was a majority in the Parliament. That is when there was a redistribution […]
1988, Australian Parliament, House of Representatives, Parliamentary Debates (Hansard), House of Representatives - in compoundsA ship with a certain type of rigging.
- A cylindrical pulley or drum in machinery.
- New ZealandA plastic bottle of beer, typically between 1 L to 2.5 L volume.
- A long, slender, pointed sable paintbrush for making fine lines, etc.; said to be so called from its use for drawing the lines of the rigging of ships.
- BDSMA person who applies functional or artistic rope bondage to another person's body.
rigger2
Synonyms & antonyms
nouna long slender pointed sable brush used by artists
nounsomeone who works on an oil rig
Synonym sets from Open English WordNet, CC BY 4.0.
Origin
Translations
Danish rigger
- riggerone who rigs or dresses
German Manipulierer, Wahlfälscher
- Manipuliererone who rigs or manipulates (an election, etc)
- Wahlfälscherone who rigs or manipulates (an election, etc)
- Kurstreiberone who rigs or manipulates (an election, etc)
- Auslegera part of a rowing boat's equipment
- Schleppera long, slender, pointed sable paintbrush for making fine lines, etc.
- Schwertschleppera long, slender, pointed sable paintbrush for making fine lines, etc.
- Linierpinsela long, slender, pointed sable paintbrush for making fine lines, etc.
- Taklerone who rigs or dresses
- Monteurone who rigs or dresses
Indonesian juru ikat
- juru ikatone who rigs or dresses
Russian такела́жник
- такела́жник (takelážnik)one who rigs or dresses
Swedish riggare
- riggareone who rigs or dresses
Rhymes & wordplay
Rhymes with rigger
Sounds the same
Cite this entry
rigger. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 2, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/rigger
“rigger.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/rigger. Accessed November 2, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “rigger,” accessed November 2, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/rigger.
Source: rigger on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.