Monday, September 16, 2013

joggle

joggle \JOG-uhl\, verb:

1. to shake slightly; move to and fro, as by repeated jerks; jiggle: She joggled the key in the lock a couple of times before getting the door open.
2. to cause to shake or totter as by a sudden, slight push; jostle.
3. to join or fasten by fitting a projection into a recess.
4. to fit or fasten with dowels.
5. to move irregularly; have a jogging or jolting motion; shake.

noun:
1. the act of joggling.
2. a slight shake or jolt.
3. a moving with jolts or jerks.
4. a projection on one of two joining objects fitting into a corresponding recess in the other to prevent slipping.
5. Carpentry. an enlarged area, as of a post or king post, for supporting the foot of a strut, brace, etc.

These brothers, Harman and Irwin, have a kind of hopping, tiptoe gait, making the casket joggle on the flatbed and creep steadily toward the back edge.
-- Edited by Michelle Barry, The Notebooks, 2010
Pru sits on the hard settee—uncushioned perhaps to discourage loiterers—and tries to murmur and joggle Roy into calm again.
-- John Updike, Rabbit at Rest, 1990

Joggle is of unknown origin. It may be a diminutive form of the common word jog. It has been used in English since the early 1500s.

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