Definition of "gig"

(music) , a performing engagement by a musician or musical group; (by extension, film, television, theater) a job or role for a performer.  examples

(by extension) Any job, especially one that is freelance or temporary, or done on an on-demand basis.  quotations  examples

(US, military) A demerit received for some infraction of a military deportment or dress code.

(transitive)

1. (music) To play (a musical instrument) at a gig.  examples

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

(intransitive)

1. (film, music, television, theater) To engage in a musical performance, act in a theatre production, etc.  examples

2. (by extension) To work at any job, especially one that is freelance or temporary, or done on an on-demand basis.  examples

(informal, computing) Clipping of gigabyte (“one billion (1,000,000,000) bytes”).  quotations  examples

(slang, chiefly sciences) Any unit of measurement having the SI prefix giga-.

(obsolete) A top which is made to spin by tying a piece of string around it and then throwing it so that the string unwinds rapidly; a whipping-top.  quotations

(chiefly Britain, school slang (Eton College), archaic or dialectal) A person with an odd appearance; also, a foolish person.

Senses relating to enjoyment.

1. (slang, archaic or Britain, dialectal) Fun; frolics.  quotations

   Quotations

   • Such was his toil, when one night coming home, / Such swell uncivil, who'd been out to roam / In search of lark, or some delicious gig / The mind delights in, when 'tis in prime twig,—

     1820, Richard Ranger, “Randall; a Fragment. With Notes”, in Jack Randall’s Diary of Proceedings at the House of Call for Genius. […], London: […] [J. Brettell] for W[illiam] Simpkin and R[ichard] Marshall, […], page 62

2. (obsolete) A fanciful impulse; a whim; also, a joke.  quotations

   Quotations

   • I muſt goe ſee him preſently, / For this is ſuch a gig: for certaine Gentlemen / The Fiend rides on a Fiddleſticke.

     1619, John Fletcher, “The Humorous Lieutenant”, in Comedies and Tragedies […], London: […] Humphrey Robinson, […], and for Humphrey Moseley […], published 1647, Act IV, scene iv, page 141, column 1

Senses relating to vehicles.

1. (nautical)

   1. A small, narrow, open boat carried in a larger ship, and used for transportation between the ship and the shore, another vessel, etc.  quotations  examples

      Quotations

      • She [a frigate] also carried a Commodore's Barge, a Captain's Gig, and a "dingy," a small yawl, with a crew of apprentice boys. […] Above all, the officers see to it that the Commodore's Barge and the Captain's Gig are manned by gentlemanly youths, who do credit to their country, and form agreeable objects for the eyes of the Commodore or Captain to repose upon as he tranquilly sits in the stern, when pulled ashore by his barge-men or gig-men, as the case may be.

        1850, Herman Melville, “The Frigate in Harbour—The Boats—Grand State Reception of the Commodore”, in White Jacket; or, The World in a Man-of-War, volume I, London: Richard Bentley, […], page 254

      • The captain's gig still lies before ye whole and sound, / It shall carry all o' we.

        1979, Stan Rogers (lyrics and music), “The Flowers of Bermuda” (track 6), in Between the Breaks … Live!, Dundas, Ont.: Fogarty’s Cove Music

   2. (Southern England, by extension) A similar rowing boat or sailboat, especially one used for racing; specifically, a six-oared sea rowing boat commonly found in Cornwall and the Isles of Scilly.  examples

2. (road transport, historical) A two-wheeled carriage drawn by a single horse.  quotations

   Quotations

   • While Sir William was with them, Mr. Collins devoted his mornings to driving him out in his gig, and shewing him the country; […]

     1813 January 27, [Jane Austen], chapter VII, in Pride and Prejudice: […], volume II, London: […] [George Sidney] for T[homas] Egerton, […], page 77

   • Here a coach thundered over the pavement, and there an unwieldy omnibus, with spruce gigs rattling past, and horsemen prancing through all the bustle.

     1837 July, Nathaniel Hawthorne, “[Tales and Sketches.] Fragments from the Journal of a Solitary Man.”, in The Dolliver Romance, and Other Pieces, Boston, Mass.: James R[ipley] Osgood and Company, late Ticknor & Fields, and Fields, Osgood, & Co., published 1876, section I, page 84

   • [W]hen he was gone (in the carriage, mind you, not in the gig driven by the groom), I am sure Mrs. Newcome would have written a letter that night to Her Grace the Duchess Dowager, his mamma, full of praise of the dear child, his graciousness, his beauty, and his wit, and declaring that she must love him henceforth and for ever after as a son of her own.

     1854, Arthur Pendennis [pseudonym; William Makepeace Thackeray], “Clive’s Uncles”, in The Newcomes: Memoirs of a Most Respectable Family, volume I, London: Bradbury and Evans, […], page 51

   • [T]he 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.

     1967, William Styron, “Judgment Day”, in The Confessions of Nat Turner, New York, N.Y.: Random House, page 77

(transitive) To make a joke, often condescendingly, at the expense of (someone); to make fun of.  examples

(intransitive) Sometimes followed by it: to ride in a gig (“a two-wheeled carriage drawn by a single horse”).  examples

(obsolete) A frivolous, playful, or wanton young woman; a giglet or giglot.

(fishing) Synonym of fishgig or fizgig (“a spear with a barb on the end of it, used for catching fish, frogs, or other small animals”).  examples

(transitive) To spear (fish, etc.) with a gig or fizgig.  examples

(intransitive) To catch or fish with a gig or fizgig.  examples