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Jerk vs Scum - What's the difference?

jerk | scum |

As nouns the difference between jerk and scum

is that jerk is a sudden, often uncontrolled movement, especially of the body or jerk can be (caribbean) a rich, spicy jamaican marinade while scum is (uncountable) a layer of impurities that accumulates at the surface of a liquid (especially molten metal or water).

As verbs the difference between jerk and scum

is that jerk is to make a sudden uncontrolled movement or jerk can be to cure (meat) by cutting it into strips and drying it, originally in the sun while scum is to remove the layer of scum from (a liquid etc).

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.

    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.

    scum

    English

    Alternative forms

    * (l)

    Noun

  • (uncountable) A layer of impurities that accumulates at the surface of a liquid (especially molten metal or water).
  • (uncountable) A greenish water vegetation (such as algae), usually found floating on the surface of ponds
  • The topmost liquid layer of a cesspool or septic tank.
  • (uncountable, slang, chiefly US) semen
  • (countable, derogatory, slang) A reprehensible person or persons.
  • (countable, derogatory, slang) police officer(s)
  • Synonyms

    * (layer of impurities) dross, impurities * (layer of impurities on molten metal) cinder, scoriae, slag * (person considered reprehensible) bastard

    Verb

    (scumm)
  • To remove the layer of scum from (a liquid etc.).
  • To remove (something) as scum.
  • *1590 , Edmund Spenser, The Faerie Queene , II.vii:
  • *:Some scumd the drosse, that from the metall came; / Some stird the molten owre with ladles great.
  • To become covered with scum.
  • *1769 , Elizabeth Raffald, The Experienced English House-keeper , pp.321-322:
  • *:Take the smallest Cucumbers you can get, and as free from Spots as possible, put them into a strong Salt and Water for nine or ten Days, or 'till they are quite Yellow, and stir them twice a Day at least, or they will scum over, and grow soft
  • (obsolete) To scour (the land, sea etc.).
  • *:
  • *:SOo by Merlyns aduys ther were sente fore rydars to skumme the Countreye / & they mette with the fore rydars of the north / and made hem to telle whiche wey the hooste cam / and thenne they told it to Arthur / and by kyng Ban and Bors counceill they lete brenne and destroye alle the contrey afore them there they shold ryde
  • *Milton
  • *:Wandering up and down without certain seat, they lived by scumming those seas and shores as pirates.
  • (obsolete) To gather together, as scum.
  • *1815 , Rudolf Ackerman and Frederic Shoberl, The Repository of Arts, Literature, Commerce, Manufactures, Fashions and Politics :
  • *:A great majority of the members are scummed together from the Jacobinical dregs of former periods of the revolution.
  • To startscum or savescum.
  • Anagrams

    * *