Word Study
jerky
CIDE DICTIONARY
jerky, a.
- Moving by jerks and starts; characterized by abrupt transitions; as, a jerky vehicle; a jerky style. [1913 Webster]
- Foolish; ridiculous; stupid. [PJC]
jerky, n. [Corrupted from Peruv. charqui dried beef.].
Meat, especially beef, that has been cut in strips and dried; meat that has been jerked; see first jerk, v. ; as, beef jerky [PJC]
OXFORD DICTIONARY
jerky, adj. (jerkier, jerkiest)
1 having sudden abrupt movements.
2 spasmodic.
1 having sudden abrupt movements.
2 spasmodic.
Derivative
jerkily adv. jerkiness n.
THESAURUS
jerky
aspic, barbecue, beef, beef extract, beef tea, boiled meat, bouilli, bouillon, broken, broken off, bully, bully beef, capricious, careening, cataclysmic, catchy, changeable, changing, charqui, chipped beef, chopped-off, choppy, civet, convulsive, decousu, desultory, deviating, deviative, deviatory, different, disastrous, disconnected, discontinued, discontinuous, discrete, disjunctive, disorderly, divaricate, divergent, diversified, diversiform, dried beef, eccentric, eclamptic, episodic, erose, erratic, fidgety, fitful, flesh, flickering, fluctuating, forcemeat, game, ground beef, guttering, hachis, halting, hamburger, hash, herky-jerky, heteroclite, immethodical, impulsive, incoherent, inconsistent, inconstant, intermittent, intermitting, interrupted, irregular, jagged, jerking, jiggety, joint, jugged hare, jumpy, lurching, meat, menue viande, mercurial, mince, motley, mutable, nonconformist, noncontinuous, nonlinear, nonsequential, nonserial, nonstandard, nonuniform, orgasmic, parenthetic, paroxysmal, pastrami, patchy, pemmican, pluralistic, pot roast, ragged, rambling, roast, roast beef, rough, salt beef, saltatory, sausage meat, scrapple, scrappy, seismic, snatchy, spasmatic, spasmic, spasmodic, spastic, sporadic, spotty, staggering, suet, suspended, twitchety, twitching, twitchy, uncertain, unconnected, unequable, unequal, uneven, unjoined, unmethodical, unmetrical, unorthodox, unregular, unrhythmical, unsettled, unstable, unsteady, unsuccessive, unsystematic, ununiform, upheaving, variable, variegated, variform, various, varying, veering, vellicative, venison, viande, wandering, wavering, wobbling, wobblyFor further exploring for "jerky" in Webster Dictionary Online