DCHP-1 Online

jigger earlier, spelled gigger

• 1 † n. Nfld See 1832 quote.

  See also: jig ((n.))  

  • c1936  (1966)  All sizes and figures, with squid lines and jiggers, / They congregate here on the squid-jiggin' ground.
  • 1778  (1792)  The Stag brought in seven quintals of fish this evening, which were killed with jiggers.
  • 1832  A jigger is a piece of lead made into the form of a small fish, with two hooks fixed into its mouth, and turned outwards in opposite directions. It is made fast to a line, which is thrown over into the sea, and by jerking it up and down, the hooks frequently fasten into the cod or other fish. . . .

• 2 n. North See 1958 quote.

  • 1946  The jigger is a wooden plank with a slot in the middle through which a wooden arm controlled by a metal lever, moves.
  • 1958  [Caption] the jigger . . . is used to hang [gill] nets under the ice. Inserted through a hole cut for the purpose, the jigger floats against the ice and is driven ahead by a lever worked with a line. The rig is recovered at another hole and the line is used to thread the net.
  • 1964  During the summer the fishermen set their gill-nets and tend them daily by boat. In the winter, the gill-nets are set under the ice surface with a device called a "jigger."

• 3 n. a hand-car or gas-car.

  See also: gas-car  hand-car  steam jigger  

  • 1934  . . . and it was arranged with Mr. Gafer . . . to take me to Long Lake on his gas-car, or jigger, which was fitted with a motor and flanged wheels and ran on the railroad track.
  • 1947  (1963)  Two of them . . . travelled by jigger along the line to Headquarters. . . .
  • 1958  A few days before I boarded the WP & Y, a jigger carrying eight men came belting around the mountains and ran smack into a moose.