Etymology The etymology of the noun is unknown, but compare Old French gigue (“a fiddle”). The verb is derived from the noun.
1
Informal Originally (music), a performing engagement by a musician or musical group; (by extension, film, television, theater) a job or role for a performer.
I caught one of the Rolling Stones’ first gigs in Richmond.
Hey, when are we gonna get that hotel gig again?
2
Broadly, Informal Any 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.
That guy’s got a great gig over at the bike shop. He hardly works all day.
2 more examples
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:
Etymology Sense 1 is a clipping of gigabyte, while sense 2 is a clipping of giga- (prefix multiplying the unit to which it is attached by one billion).
This picture is almost a gig; don’t you want to resize it?
My new computer has over 500 gigs of hard drive space.
1 more example
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
SciencesInformal, Slang Any unit of measurement having the SI prefix giga-.
gig
verb
Etymology The noun is derived from Middle English gigg, gigge, gygge (“spinning object; a top”); further origin uncertain, possibly: * from Old Norse [Term?] (compare Danish gig (“a top”), dialectal Norwegian giga (“to shake about”)), from Proto-Germanic *gīganą (“to move, wish, desire”), from Proto-Indo-European *gʰeyǵʰ-, *gʰeygʰ- (“to yawn, gape, long for, desire”); or * ultimately onomatopoeic. Senses 2–4 are thought to derive from sense 1 (“whipping-top”), but their exact relationship is unclear. The verb is derived from the noun.
1
Informal To 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
Informal Sometimes followed by it: to ride in a gig (“a two-wheeled carriage drawn by a single horse”).
gig
noun
Etymology The noun is derived from Middle English gigg, gigge, gygge (“spinning object; a top”); further origin uncertain, possibly: * from Old Norse [Term?] (compare Danish gig (“a top”), dialectal Norwegian giga (“to shake about”)), from Proto-Germanic *gīganą (“to move, wish, desire”), from Proto-Indo-European *gʰeyǵʰ-, *gʰeygʰ- (“to yawn, gape, long for, desire”); or * ultimately onomatopoeic. Senses 2–4 are thought to derive from sense 1 (“whipping-top”), but their exact relationship is unclear. The verb is derived from the noun.
Informal, Obsolete A 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.
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.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:
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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:
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:
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:
› Senses relating to vehicles.
5
Nautical, TransportInformal A small, narrow, open boat carried in a larger ship, and used for transportation between the ship and the shore, another vessel, etc.
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:
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:
6
Nautical, TransportSouthern England, Broadly, Informal A 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.
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:
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:
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[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:
Etymology From Middle English gig, gigge, gegge, possibly either: * from Old French gigue (“tall, skinny girl”) (modern French gigue), from Old Norse gikkr (“pert person”) (related to Danish gjæk (“fool, jester”), Swedish gäck (“fool, jester; a wag”); see also geck); or * from Middle English gigg, gigge, gygge (“spinning object; a top”) (see etymology 3).
1
Informal, Obsolete A frivolous, playful, or wanton young woman; a giglet or giglot.
gig
noun
Etymology The noun is derived from a clipping of fishgig, fizgig, possibly from Spanish fisga (“harpoon”). The verb is derived from the noun.
1
Fishing, Hobbies, LifestyleInformal Synonym 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: