Etymology Borrowed from French jet (“spurt”, literally “a throw”), from Old French get, giet, from Vulgar Latin *iectus, *jectus, from Latin iactus (“a throwing, a throw”), from iacere (“to throw”). See abject, ejaculate, gist, jess, jut. Cognate with Spanish echar.
A collimated stream, spurt or flow of liquid or gas from a pressurized container, an engine, etc.
In the floor of the valley the line passes hills of fantastic shape, like sleeping camels and inverted washbasins, and you can see the beautiful lakes Naivasha and Elementeita; at Eburru jets of steam spurt out of the ground.1950 April 23, Timothy H. Cobb, “The Kenya-Uganda Railway”, in Railway Magazine, page 265:
One of the other two nations to operate the F-35B, the United Kingdom, has had US versions of the jet operating off its HMS Queen Elizabeth aircraft carrier.2018 November 29, Brad Lendon and Zachary Cohen, “Japan preparing to put US-designed stealth jets on an ‘aircraft carrier’”, in CNN:
“Rather than writing off both jets as a loss … teams made a bold decision in 2022 to remove the nose from AF-27 and put it onto AF-211 to maximize savings and add back an operational aircraft to the fleet,” a report from the F-35 JPO said.2025 April 10, Brad Lendon, “‘Frankenjet’ stealth fighter made from two wrecked warplanes joins US Air Force fleet”, in CNN:
› An engine that propels a vehicle using a…
4
A turbine.
5
A rocket engine.
6
A part of a carburetor that controls the amount of fuel mixed with the air.
7
Natural sciences, Physical sciences, Physics A narrow cone of hadrons and other particles produced by the hadronization of a quark or gluon.
Etymology Borrowed from French jet (“spurt”, literally “a throw”), from Old French get, giet, from Vulgar Latin *iectus, *jectus, from Latin iactus (“a throwing, a throw”), from iacere (“to throw”). See abject, ejaculate, gist, jess, jut. Cognate with Spanish echar.
Farmers may either dip or jet sheep with chemicals.
3
To travel on a jet aircraft or otherwise by jet propulsion
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To move (running, walking etc.) rapidly around
5
To shoot forward or out; to project; to jut out.
The Town has the outer Branch of the River behind it, and the Harbour before it, jetting into which latter are cloſe Keys for the weighing and receiving of Cuſtomage on Merchandize, and for the meeting and conferring of Merchants and Traders.1724, Charles Johnson [pseudonym], “Of Captain Bartho[lomew] Roberts, and His Crew”, in A General History of the Pyrates, […], 2nd edition, London: Printed for, and sold by T. Warner, […], →OCLC, page 214:
And last year, at 5:26 a.m. on August 10, a whole mountainside toppled into the tideline of the shrunken Sawyer Glacier, not far from the Alaskan capital, Juneau. The impact jetted a tsunami a staggering 500 meters up the walls of the fjord.2026 February 27, Paul Salopek, “Hazard Cascade”, in National Geographic:
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To strut; to walk with a lofty or haughty gait; to be insolent; to obtrude.
Why, lords, and think you not how dangerous It is to jet upon a prince’s right?c. 1588–1593 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Lamentable Tragedy of Titus Andronicus”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act II, scene i]:
Contemplation makes a rare turkey-cock of him: how he jets under his advanced plumes!c. 1601–1602 (date written), William Shakespeare, “Twelfe Night, or What You Will”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act II, scene v]:
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To jerk; to jolt; to be shaken.
1719, Richard Wiseman, Serjeant-Chirurgeon to King Charles II, Eight Chirurgical Treatises, London: B. Tooke et al., 5th edition, Volume 2, Book 5, Chapter 4, p. 78, A Lady was wounded down the whole Length of the Forehead to the Nose […] It happened to her travelling in a Hackney-Coach, upon the jetting whereof she was thrown out of the hinder Seat against a Bar of Iron in the forepart of the Coach.
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To adjust the fuel to air ratio of a carburetor; to install or adjust a carburetor jet
The cure is to jet the carburetor excessively rich so that the mixture will be correct at the top end, but this richens the curve throughout the RPM range.1970, Bill Fisher, How to Hotrod Volkswagen Engines, page 30:
Pimp prolly jetted before the girl hit the ground good, and if Smoove was still standing on the porch when his brother got downstairs, he'd taken off with him.2006, Noire [pseudonym], Thug-A-Licious: An Urban Erotic Tale, New York, N.Y.: One World, Ballantine Books, →ISBN, page 106:
Etymology Borrowed from French jet (“spurt”, literally “a throw”), from Old French get, giet, from Vulgar Latin *iectus, *jectus, from Latin iactus (“a throwing, a throw”), from iacere (“to throw”). See abject, ejaculate, gist, jess, jut. Cognate with Spanish echar.
1
Propelled by turbine engines.
jet airplane
jet
noun
Etymology From Middle English get, geet, gete, from a northern form of Old French jayet, jaiet, gaiet, from Latin gagātēs, from Ancient Greek Γαγάτης (Gagátēs), from Γάγας (Gágas, “a town and river in Lycia”). Doublet of gagate.
There is also a factitious jeat made of glaſs, in imitation of the mineral jeat.1735, [John Barrow], “JEAT”, in Dictionarium Polygraphicum: Or, The Whole Body of Arts Regularly Digested. […], volume II (I–S), London: […] C[harles] Hitch and C[harles] Davis […], and S[amuel] Austen […], →OCLC:
Etymology From Middle English get, geet, gete, from a northern form of Old French jayet, jaiet, gaiet, from Latin gagātēs, from Ancient Greek Γαγάτης (Gagátēs), from Γάγας (Gágas, “a town and river in Lycia”). Doublet of gagate.
1
Very dark black in colour.
All the direct blacks require working in strong baths to give anything like black shades; they all have, more or less, a bluish tone, which can be changed to a jetter shade by the addition of a yellow or green dye in small proportions, which has been done in one of the recipes given above.1901, Franklin Beech, The Dyeing of Cotton Fabrics: A Practical Handbook for the Dyer and Student:
She was an ash blonde with greenish eyes, beaded lashes, hair waved smoothly back from ears in which large jet buttons glittered.1939, Raymond Chandler, The Big Sleep, Penguin, published 2011, page 23:
jet
noun
Etymology Borrowed from French jet.
1
Mathematics, Sciences an operation that takes a differentiable function f and produces a polynomial, the Taylor polynomial (truncated Taylor series) of f, at each point of its domain.