Green’s Dictionary of Slang

wiggle n.

In compounds

wiggle room (n.)

(US) flexibility.

1980		Spokesman-Rev. (Spokane) 10 Jan. 2/3: [T]he lack of ‘wiggle room’ can add to patient costs.
1990		Asheville Citizen-Times (NC) 1 Jan. 4/6: [C]utbacks in defence spending should give Bush some blessed wiggle room.
2000		MIami Herald 1 Jan. 10B/2: [R]educing any wiggle room that the city might have in reacjing a compromise.
2024		C. Stella Joey Piss Pot 223: ‘Not murder, I hope. I don’t have wiggle room for that’.

In phrases

get a wiggle on (v.) (also do a wiggle, get a waggle on, get a wriggle on)

to bustle, to hurry, to ‘look lively’.

1892		Taranaki Herald (NZ) 13 Sept. 4/2: Get a wiggle on, my lad / Don’t walk at a funeral pace / [...] / Get a hustle on your walk.
1896		W.C. Gore Student Sl. in Cohen (1997) 19: get a wiggle on you Hurry up, bestir yourself.
1899–1900		C.L. Cullen Tales of the Ex-Tanks 386: You want to do a wiggle [...] the train pulls out in two minutes.
1900		Bulletin (Sydney) 31 Mar. from N.Y. Criterion Red Page/2: ‘D’yer mean I’ve got ter walk?’ [...] / ‘Sure thing – unless you can slide it. Come get a waggle on you, or I’ll kick you half-way there.’.
1903		A. Adams Log Of A Cowboy 55: As our foreman galloped away, leaving us behind, Bob Blades said, ‘Has n’t the boss got a wiggle on himself to-day?’.
1903		Observer (NZ) 25 Apr. 14/1: Tell Dick to get a wiggle on; I’m tired of waiting.
1911		St C. Grondona Collar and Cuffs 11: After the fire [...] the sheep had to ‘get a wriggle on’ pretty quickly [AND].
1913		Van Loan ‘For Revenue Only’ in Lucky Seventh (2004) 215: Now you get a wiggle on you, and trot out that split-second watch.
1915		C.E.W. Bean Anzac Book 36/1: You’d better get a wriggle on. There’s a short cut that way.
1928		(con. 1918) L. Nason Top Kick 153: Hey, get a wiggle on with them wounded!
1937		A.W. Upfield Murder Down Under (1951) 50: Get a wriggle on, Leonard, or you’ll turn into a real creepy toad.
1941		K. Tennant Battlers 274: Old Sharkey turned dog on us, didn’t he, Bet? Said he’d get me for abduction. So get a wiggle on you, ’Postle.
1949		L. Glassop Lucky Palmer 13: Now get a wriggle on.
1958		G. Casey Snowball 234: By Christ! If we don’t get a wriggle on you’ll be havin’ her for lunch instead of a night-time snack.
1963–74		B. Humphries Barry McKenzie [comic strip] in Complete Barry McKenzie (1988) 78: Get a wriggle on darlings. I’ve got the car waiting.
1977		(con. 1941) R. Beilby Gunner 187: Wakey wakey, soldier! Get a wriggle on if you want to get off tonight.
1986		R.G. Barrett Real Thing 230: She had to meet the boys at six — better get a wriggle on.
1988		F.G. Tunbo Stay Put, Robbie McAmis 80: ‘You younguns get a wiggle on,’ she scolded.
1991		W.T. Federer Statistics and Society 54: Then you’d better get a wiggle on ’cause I’m getting awfully tired of running this country alone!!
2000		L. McDermid One Man’s Junk 57: Well, you better get a wiggle on. Otherwise you’re gonna get grounded again.