wig v.2
1. to annoy, to irritate; to render someone nervous.
![[Ind]](/static/img/flags/ind.png "India") | Hills & Plains I 285: No one could wig a magistrate, snub a planter, or silence a missionary more courageously than he. | |
 | A Hist. of Jazz in America 350: wig: term expressing exasperation, enthusiasm or insanity. | |
![[US]](/static/img/flags/us.png "United States") | ‘Final Shtick’ in Gentleman Junkie (1961) 20: Don’t let it wig you, kid. | |
| Ladies’ Man (1985) 237: I was proud of myself that Donny’s gayness didn’t wig me. | |
| Clueless [film script] Oh, and this Josh and Tai thing was wigging me more than anything. I mean, what was my problem? | |
| (con. 1962) Enchanters 328: The Aadland approach wigged me. |
2. (US) to talk, to chatter.
| DAS 579/2: wig [...] to talk, esp. to talk idly or foolishly [...] since c.1935. |
3. (US black) to inform, to explain to someone.
| Diggeth Thou? 43: Let me wig you to the deal that went down. |
4. (US black) to delight, to impress.
| Jives of Dr. Hepcat (1989) 5: An upstate guy wigs you with some most burnt toeology, the whole party is gapping and clapping making you most understand that the dancer is ace hi, on the main stem. And one ‘tip toe Joe’ that’s in the know. | |
![[UK]](/static/img/flags/uk.png "United Kingdom") | Baron’s Court All Change (2011) 22: It wigged her like mad to know that I was already on the Jazz scene. |
5. to understand, to approve.
| N.Y. Amsterdam News 22 Mar. 13: ‘I wig you and I dig you’. | |
| Absolute Beginners 26: He didn’t wig this, so [...] he stepped away to make himself respectable again. | |
![[Aus]](/static/img/flags/aus.png "Australia") | (con. late 1950s) Amaze Your Friends (2019) 209: Homer gradually wigged that Max wasn’t going to leave without the money. |
6. (US) to play cerebral, intellectual jazz music.
| PADS Nov. 47: wig: to think, to play extremely intellectual music. |
7. (US) to be in good spirits, to enjoy.
| ‘The Be-Bop Santa Claus’ 🎵 Pops was wigging and he was out of his head. | |
| DAS. |
8. (US) to become nervous, hysterical, overly stressed, mentally unbalanced; thus vtr. wig on(someone).
| Sideman 233: When she found out I was dancing in nightclubs she wigged! | |
| Jazz Rev. Jan. 9: The guy was about to wig. He told someone, ‘You gotta get this band the hell outa here.’. | |
| Ladies’ Man (1985) 131: I was wigging to the point of urinating on myself. | |
| Sl. U. 206: I was wigging over my date with Bob. | |
| Clockers 346: Next thing I know the kid wigs, he turns and shoves me, boom. | |
| Tattoo of a Naked Lady 180: Hell, he’d probably cop to the hit he’d be wiggin’ so bad. | |
| Snitch Jacket 171: Don’t wig. Don’t wig don’t wig don’t wig. | |
| Gutshot Straight [ebook] [She] took Lucy’s upper lip between both of hers and tugged gently. ‘Don’t wig on me now, Loosey Change, okay?’. |
9. (US) to reach a different state through drugs.
| Getting Straight 26: It’s a great kick [...] You’ll wig! | |
| Ladies’ Man (1985) 222: Well, we both wigged. | |
| ‘Take’m to the Water’ 🎵 Ate a ten-strip of blotter, been wiggin all week long / Y’all keep on, with that jibbery jabbery slippin out happily / Expose you pretty hoes with a dose of this hospitality. |
10. (UK black) to shoot in the head.
| ‘Pump 101’ 🎵 I could wig a man in front of his daughter (Bap, bap). |
In phrases
1. (US, also whig out) to lose control, to have a breakdown; thus wigged (out) adj.
| S.F. Chronicle 4 June 35: Some real moldy cat in a library in Alabama wigged out when she saw the white rabbits and the black rabbits on the cover of the book together. | |
| Essential Lenny Bruce 178: So he just wigs out, you know. | |
| Serial 26: Kate didn’t wig out over the occasional Frito. | |
| Thinner (1986) 93: If we wig out and decide to head for Mexico. | |
| Campus Sl. Apr. 10: whig out – lose self-control. | |
| Tasmanian Babes Fiasco (1998) 187: [She] Said she couldn’t see him while he was wigging out like this, tells him to grow up. | |
| in Dusted Mag. at Trikont.com 🌐 The feds were truly wigging out, portraying drug fans and distributors as brainless, heartless zombies, stripped of their sobriety, diligence, thrift and self-mastery. | |
| Cherry 59: The drill sergeants pretended they were real angry. They said not to come close to them because they could wig out and snap our necks. |
2. (orig. jazz) to enjoy oneself, to lose one’s inhibitions, to be thrilled by.
| ‘Wayne University Sl.’ AS XXX:4 305: wig out, v.i. To be highly pleased. ‘He wigged out at the profs gag’ (He got a big belly-laugh from the professor’s joke). | |
| Delinquency, Crime, and Social Process 810: I used to get loaded and go to school just to wig out on all the people, just a big trip I was on. |
3. (US campus) to shock, thrill or amaze someone, whether positively or negatively.
| Campus Sl. Oct. 6: wig someone out – shock, surprise, unnerve: ‘The incident after the football game really wigged me out.’. | |
| Indep. Rev. 25 Feb. 14: With Commons all-night jamming / We’ll wig those bozos out. | |
| Kindred Spirits 116: When Eric breathes on them [i.e. her ears], it totally wigs me out. |