jerky meaning: definition, etymology and quotations

jerky

adj

UK /ˈd͡ʒɜːki/ · US /ˈd͡ʒɝki/

Etymology From jerk + -y.

Characterized by physical jerking, or by sudden and uneven progress.

1 more example

US Having the behavior of a jerk (unpleasant person).

Colloquial, Dated Anxious; jumpy.

Marrabel found an ideal crevice for his loot: tight, hidden, accessible. […] His only desire was to recover the coin and get away. But the lady seemed set here, and Marrabel, ignorant of her intentions, made his first bad move. He claimed the chair, fully expecting to be given it at once. […] In strictly feminine terms she told him to go to the devil, and Marrabel, now beginning to feel jerky, veered off.1927, Ernest Bramah [pseudonym; Ernest Brammah Smith], Max Carrados Mysteries:

noun

Etymology Borrowed from Spanish charqui, from Quechua charki.

Lean meat cured and preserved by cutting into thin strips and air-drying in the sun.

Related terms: jerk, jerked beef, beef jerky, jerked meat, biltong, Quechuan chunyu, pemmican, pemican, smoked meat, smoker

verb

Etymology Borrowed from Spanish charqui, from Quechua charki.

To cure and preserve (meat) by drying it, making jerky.

Entry derived from the Wiktionary, under licence CC BY-SA 4.0 — list of authors.