gig

English

Pronunciation

• enPR: gĭg, IPA: /ɡɪɡ/, X-SAMPA: /gIg/
• Rhymes: -ɪɡ

Etymology 1

Akin to Old Norse gigia (“fiddle”) and German Geige (“violin”).

Noun

gig (plural gigs)

1. (informal, music) A performing engagement by a musical group; or, generally, any job or role for a musician or performer.

   I caught one of the Rolling Stones' first gigs in Richmond.

   Hey, when are we gonna get that hotel gig again?

   Our guitar player had another gig so we had to get a sub.

2. (informal, by extension) Any job; especially one that is temporary; or alternately, one that is very desirable.

   I had this gig as a file clerk but it wasn't my style so I left.

   Hey, that guy's got a great gig over at the bike shop. He hardly works all day!

3. (now historical) A two-wheeled horse-drawn carriage.
   • 1967, William Styron, The Confessions of Nat Turner, Vintage 2004, p. 77:

     the 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.

4. (archaic) A forked spear for catching fish, frogs, or other small animals.
5. (South England) A six-oared sea rowing boat commonly found in Cornwall and the Isles of Scilly.
6. (US, military) A demerit received for some infraction of military dress or deportment codes.

   I received gigs for having buttons undone.

Translations

performing engagement by a musical group

• Arabic: حفلة (ar) (hafla(t)) f
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 音樂會 (cmn), 音乐会 (cmn) (yīnyuè huì)

• Czech: štace (cs) f
• Dutch: optreden (nl) n, schnabbel (nl) m, concert (nl) n
• Finnish: keikka (fi)
• French: concert (fr) m
• German: Auftritt (de) m
• Hungarian: koncert (hu)
• Italian: esibizione (it) f

• Japanese: (slang) 仕事 (ja) (しごと, shigoto), 出演 (ja) (しゅつえん, shutsuen)
• Latvian: uzstāšanās (lv) n
• Macedonian: свирка (mk) (svírka) f
• Polish: występ (pl) m, koncert (pl) m
• Portuguese: show (pt) m, apresentação (pt) f
• Russian: музыкальное представление (ru) (muzykál’noje predstavlénije) n
• Serbo-Croatian: свирка (sh) (svirka) f
• Spanish: contrato para tocar (es), empleo (es)
• Swedish: gig (sv) n, spelning (sv) c, framträdande (sv) n
• Vietnamese: biểu diễn (vi)

archaic: two-wheeled horse-drawn carriage

• Catalan: carrossí (Algherese)
• Crimean Tatar: yaylı
• Finnish: kiesit (fi) pl
• Italian: calesse (it) m
• Polish: dwukółka (pl) f

• Sardinian:

  Logudorese Sardinian: birotzu, carrotzinu

• Sassarese Sardinian: caressu
• Swedish: gigg (sv) c

archaic: forked spear for catching fish, frogs, or other small animals

• Finnish: atrain (fi)
• Italian: arpione (it) m

• Swedish: ljuster (sv) n, harpun (sv) c

Verb

gig (third-person singular simple present gigs, present participle gigging, simple past and past participle gigged)

1. To fish or catch with a gig, or fish spear.
2. To engage in musical performances.

   The Stones were gigging around Richmond at the time

3. To make fun of; to make a joke at someone's expense, often condescending.

   His older cousin was just gigging him about being in love with that girl from school.

4. (US, military) To impose a demerit for an infraction of a dress or deportment code.

   His sergeant gigged him for an unmade bunk.

Translations

to catch with a gig

• Finnish: tuulastaa (fi), pyytää atraimella

to engage in musical performances

• Finnish: keikkailla (fi)

to make fun of

• Finnish: kiusata (fi)

Etymology 2

A shortening of gigabyte.

Noun

gig (plural gigs)

1. (colloquial, computing) A gigabyte.

   This picture is almost a gig; don't you wanna resize it?

   How much music does it hold? A hundred and twenty gigs.

Anagrams

• IgG

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Esperanto

Esperanto cardinal numbers

	1,000,000,000
Cardinal : gig     Ordinal : giga

Etymology

Back-formation from giga-.

Numeral

gig

1. (cardinal, neologism) a billion, 10⁹

Synonyms

• miliardo

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Lojban

Rafsi

gig

1. rafsi of gigdo.