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Jerk vs Twerk - What's the difference?

jerk | twerk |

As nouns the difference between jerk and twerk

is that jerk is a sudden, often uncontrolled movement, especially of the body while twerk is a puny or insignificant person, generally male; a twerp.

As verbs the difference between jerk and twerk

is that jerk is to make a sudden uncontrolled movement while twerk is to twitch or jerk.

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.

    twerk

    English

    Etymology 1

    .

    Noun

    (en noun)
  • (slang, dated, US) A puny or insignificant person, generally male; a twerp.
  • *1930 , , The Big Barn , page 207:
  • *:"'...but when they load a pack onto you, what'll you do? A little twerk like you?'"
  • *1932 , Forum and Century vol. 87 [http://books.google.com/books?ei=fz75RqyPOoWcpgKW19m0Dw]:
  • *:"But even then the poor twerk' s whiskers and little eyes looked kind of wistful as if the clothes had got him and was taking him somewhere..."
  • *2003 , Bernard Kamoroff, Small Time Operator [http://books.google.com/books?id=9qlizjnOrVcC], ISBN 0917510186, page 19,
  • *:You don't need those twerks who walk in off the street.
    • Usage notes
    Found primarily in the 1930s-era works of .

    Etymology 2

    (Twerking) .

    Noun

    (en noun)
  • A fitful movement similar to a twitch or jerk.
  • *1898 , William Brigham, "Director's Report" in Occasional Papers of the Bernice Pauahi Museum vol. 1 no. 1, page 42:
  • *:"Not so the Freycineti, who looked me over critically, elevated his head crest, and giving his tail an odd little twerk , proceeded to hop deliberately up the limb like a sap-sucker..."
  • *1920 , Lilian C. McNamara Garis, The Girl Scouts at Sea Crest: Or, The Wig Wag Rescue [http://books.google.com/books?id=ulYCAAAAYAAJ], page 86,
  • *:"I hardly realize it yet that you are my really truly coz," and she gave the girl's long, brown braids a familiar twerk .
  • *1950 , Robert S. Close, Love Me Sailor [http://books.google.com/books?id=ySdBAAAAIAAJ], page 86,
  • *:With a quick twerk at her shift, the girl lifted it to her rounded belly, and squatted nakedly on his lap.

    • Verb

    (en verb)
  • To twitch or jerk.
  • *1985 , Criena Rohan, Down by the Docks [http://books.google.com/books?id=ausNAAAAIAAJ], page 151,
  • *: in the language of the unsophisticated Port Melbourne suburbanite a bed was still something primarily intended for love-making – all the eyebrow-raising and moustache-twerking in Jo'burg couldn't alter that.
  • *2005 , Florence Hall Abssi, The Call [http://books.google.com/books?id=OyAkYG9lwD4C], page 613:
  • *:"He twerked an eyebrow at his wife."
  • To move the body in a sexually suggestive twisting or gyrating fashion.
  • *2005 , Euftis Emery, Off the Chain [http://books.google.com/books?id=Ib1vEpY4TpwC], ISBN 1411630475, page 73,
    • Gaea then stood up over me and turned so that her butt was facing me. She then had the nerve to start twerking .
  • *2006 , Lawrence Christopher, Ghettoway Weekend [http://books.google.com/books?id=gOPfQEdpxkwC], ISBN 0971227845, page 96,
  • *:"Shortie'' really knows how to ''twerk it don't she?" Marcus boasted, while still recording.
  • * 2006 , :
    • Let me see what ya twerkin with
  • To dance in a sexually suggestive manner, often involving rapid movement.
  • *2013', Nichole Smith, ABC News, ''High School Students Suspended for '''''Twerking'' [http://abcnews.go.com/blogs/headlines/2013/05/high-school-students-suspended-for-twerking/]
    • Twerking, as it is known in the hip-hop community, is a hard-hitting, rump-shaking dance move that celebrities including Beyonce and Miley Cyrus have been known to bust out, but it has also gotten a group of San Diego high school students suspended.
    Usage notes
    In “sexually suggestive movements, especially dance”, particularly popularized since c. 2000 by US hip-hop.
    Derived terms
    * twerker

    Etymology 3

    Onomatopoeia, possibly coined by .

    Noun

    (en noun)
  • An abrupt call, such as made by the California Quail.
  • *{{quote-book, year=1961, author=Roger Tory Peterson, title=A Field Guide to Western Birds citation
    • passage=Note of male on territory, a loud kurr or twerk .}}