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What is the difference between jolt and jerk?

jolt | jerk |

Jerk is a synonym of jolt.



In transitive terms the difference between jolt and jerk

is that jolt is to shock emotionally while jerk is to give a quick, often unpleasant tug or shake.

In intransitive terms the difference between jolt and jerk

is that jolt is to shake; to move with a series of jerks while jerk is to make a sudden uncontrolled movement.

jolt

English

(wikipedia jolt)

Verb

(en verb)
  • To push or shake abruptly and roughly.
    • The bus jolted its passengers.
  • To knock sharply; to deal a blow to.
  • To shock (someone) into taking action or being alert; as, to jolt someone out of complacency
  • To shock emotionally.
    • Her untimely death jolted us all.
  • To shake; to move with a series of jerks.
    • The bus jolted along the stony path.

    Noun

    (en noun)
  • An act of jolting.
  • A surprise or shock.
  • (slang) A long prison sentence.
  • (slang) A narcotic injection.

    • Coordinate terms

    * (prison sentence) bit

    jerk

    English

    Etymology 1

    Probably from (etyl) . Related to (l).

    Alternative forms

    * (l)

    Noun

    (en noun)
  • A sudden, often uncontrolled movement, especially of the body.
  • * 1856 , (Gustave Flaubert), (Madame Bovary), Part III Chapter X, translated by Eleanor Marx-Aveling
    • The black cloth bestrewn with white beads blew up from time to time, laying bare the coffin. The tired bearers walked more slowly, and it advanced with constant jerks , like a boat that pitches with every wave.
  • A quick, often unpleasant tug or shake.
    • When I yell "OK," give the mooring line a good jerk !
  • (US, slang, pejorative) A dull or stupid person.
  • (US, slang, pejorative) A person with unlikable or obnoxious qualities and behavior, typically mean, self-centered or disagreeable.
    • I finally fired him, because he was being a real jerk to his customers, even to some of the staff.
    You really are a jerk sometimes.
  • (physics, engineering) The rate of change in acceleration with respect to time.
  • (obsolete) A soda jerk.
  • (weightlifting) A lift in which the weight is taken with a quick motion from shoulder height to a position above the head with arms fully extended and held there for a brief time.
    • Usage notes
    (wikipedia jerk) * Jerk is measured in metres per second cubed (m/s3) in SI units, or in feet per second cubed (ft/s3) in imperial units.
    Synonyms
    * (sudden movement) jolt, lurch, jump * (quick tug) yank * (stupid person) numbskull * (unlikable person) asshole, bastard, twat, knobhead, tosser, wanker, git, dick. * jolt (British), surge, lurch
    Derived terms
    * jerkish * soda jerk

    See also

    * acceleration * displacement * velocity

    Verb

    (en verb)
  • To make a sudden uncontrolled movement.
  • * 1877 , (Anna Sewell), (Black Beauty) Chapter 23[http://en.wikisource.org/wiki/Black_Beauty/23]
    • York came to me first, whilst the groom stood at Ginger's head. He drew my head back and fixed the rein so tight that it was almost intolerable; then he went to Ginger, who was impatiently jerking her head up and down against the bit, as was her way now.
  • To give a quick, often unpleasant tug or shake.
  • (US, slang, vulgar) To masturbate.
  • (obsolete) To beat, to hit.
    • (Florio)
  • (obsolete) To throw with a quick and suddenly arrested motion of the hand.
    • to jerk a stone
  • (usually, transitive, weightlifting) To lift using a jerk.
  • (obsolete) To flout with contempt.
    • Derived terms
    * jerk off * jerksome

    Etymology 2

    From American (etyl) charquear, from charqui, from (etyl) .

    Noun

    (-)
  • (Caribbean) A rich, spicy Jamaican marinade
  • (Caribbean) Meat cured by jerking; charqui.
    • Jerk chicken is a local favorite.
    Related terms
    *

    Verb

    (en verb)
  • To cure (meat) by cutting it into strips and drying it, originally in the sun.
  • * 2011 , Dominic Smith, Bright and Distant Shores , page 106:
    • The Lemakot in the north strangled widows and threw them into the cremation pyres of their dead husbands. If they defeated potential invaders the New Irish hanged the vanquished from banyan trees, flensed their windpipes, removed their heads, left their intestines to jerk in the sun.