jerk n.1
1. an act of sexual intercourse.
![[UK]](/static/img/flags/uk.png "United Kingdom") | T- B-’s Last Letter in Miscellaneous Writings III 5: The Business of Cuckold-making is always done with a Jirk. | |
| ‘The Disappointed Tailor ’ in Merry Songs and Ballads (1897) IV 229: So they both went to work, / Now a Kiss, then a Jirk. |
2. (orig. US, also jerkface) a general term of abuse; a fool, an idiot, a failure.
![[US]](/static/img/flags/us.png "United States") | Call It Sleep (1977) 411: Jerk I shidda said. Cha! | |
| Strip Tease 37: The audience — anyone who comes to burlesque show — is a ‘jerk’. [...] It’s the jerk who keeps on applauding for the stripper to come back [...] It’s the jerk who snaps candid-camera shots from the front row. | |
| On Broadway 28 Jan. [synd. col.] Stage mothers are insisting that Nan Walker [...] quit calling their darlings ‘jerkface’. | |
| Really the Blues 301: Listen to this son-of-a-bitch [...] the jerk’s a nigger-lover. | |
| Little Men, Big World 110: A jerk who’s so dumb he’d get a man sent up for a year for double parking. | |
| Big Rumble 67: He walked out immediately after flooring the jerk. | |
| Baron’s Court All Change (2011) 39: [A] middle-aged jerk who lives with ‘Mummy’ in a toffee-nosed block of flats. | |
| Gonif 27: For God’s sake, jerk, you’re still young. | |
| Patriot Game (1985) 150: Grammy had to take Grampy by the sleeve and shush the old jerk. | |
| Dark Spectre (1996) 5: Three paces behind came Ronnie Ho, looking polite and concerned as always. What a jerk! | |
![[Aus]](/static/img/flags/aus.png "Australia") | Rubdown [ebook] I bet you’ve rooted jerks for nothing. | |
| Call of the Weird (2006) 35: They’re all a bunch of goofball jerks. | |
| (con. 1973) Johnny Porno 81: You knew those jerks? | |
| Killing Pool 109: The only jerk who knew nothing whatsoever was myself. | |
| Cherry 30: ‘You’re being a fucking jerk’. | |
 | ‘Hula Hula Boys’ in What Pluckery Is This? (28 Jan 2024) 🌐 They weren’t grabby jerks, but [...] a hot haole chick was a hot haole chick. |
3. (US) a male masturbator [jerk off v.].
| Americana Sexualis 26: Jerk [...] Same as Jagoff. | |
| Lowspeak 80: Jerk [...] a masturbator from jerk off. This has fallen into disuse. |
4. (US) a soda-fountain clerk [abbr. SAmE soda jerk].
| Amer. Thes. Sl. 766: Soda fountain clerk...jerk. | |
| Thieves’ Market 208: I could be a secretary [...] or a soda jerk, but I’m a whore. | |
| (con. WWII) And Then We Heard The Thunder (1964) 46: Worm was hopelessly in love with the lady soda jerk. | |
| Paradise Alley (1978) 53: Victor nodded at the soda jerk. |
5. (US) an ice-cream soda.
| M.O. Jones ‘Soda Fountain [...] Calls’ in AS XLII:1 63: Jerk, n. [...] An ice cream soda. | |
| Dict. Food and Drink 239: Jerk. An ice cream soda, referring to the jerking motion of a seltzer spigot [HDAS]. |
In derivatives
social ineptitude, gaucherie.
| KQED radio schedule 8 Aug. 🌐 Host Stephen Dubner speaks with Steve Jobs biographer [...] about the Apple CEO’s well known proclivity towards jerkitude. |
(US) a stupid, contemptible person.
| Detective Story 321: Then the jerko took a bus. | |
![[Can]](/static/img/flags/can.png "Canada") | Apprenticeship of Duddy Kravitz (1964) 35: Hey, look! Look, jerkos! | |
| Cannibals 107: Listen, jerko, you know you’re special to me. | |
| Blue Messiah 55: You give ’em to jerko here. | |
| I’m Not Touching You! 81: Hey Jerko...did you do all this just to get out of having to load and unload the pickup truck? |
(US) silly, idiotic.
| in Mae West (1984) 331: [cast list] Jerky [...] Harry Wallace. | |
| Strip Tease 37: Jerks get backstage [...] and ask questions for ‘jerky reasons’. | |
| Amboy Dukes 154: That’s jerky. Leaving him alone in there with her. | |
| Lead With Your Left (1958) 15: ‘A real dumb killing,’ Anderson said. ‘Does sound like one of the jerky ones.’ [Ibid.] 17: Some jerky kid must have done the job. | |
| Essential Lenny Bruce 118: Maybe I am jerky, or somethin. | |
| ‘Undercover of the Night’ 🎵 The John’s are jerky little G. I. Joe’s. | |
| Breaks 128: I felt outraged, not so much by his jerky beard [...] as by his youth. | |
| Loose Change 104: Susie recalls, ‘There was always some jerky guy who’d been an electronics freak since he was little and he would take charge of the sound system.’. | |
| Dance of the Kitchen Maids 361: On my left was a couple, only unlike the jerky guy, they were enjoying themselves. |
In compounds
(US) a contemptible idiot.
| Nam (1982) 86: You’re a jerk-ass. You got bit in the face and all you’re worried about is you didn’t kill nobody? | |
| On the Bro’d 69: ‘Tell that stupid jerkass to chill out’. |
(US campus) a foolish, dull person.
| Campus Sl. Apr. 3: jerk-face – a foolish, dull person. | |
| Sl. and Sociability 59: Derogatory epithets abound, for example [...] jerk face, nob, punk, quimp. |
(US) a stupid, contemptible person.
| Apprenticeship of Duddy Kravitz (1964) 51: You poor, stupid jerk-head. | |
| Newsweek 21 May n.p.: Reagan’s aides...were heaping the well-respected economist with such epithets as ‘jerkhead’ and ‘dummy’ [HDAS]. | |
| Px This.: Diary of the Potted Plant 10: Jerkhead. I’ve worked for people like him before [...] I know what his deal is. |
(US) a masturbator, a general term of abuse.
| Right Hand Rule 🌐 Haley was a jerkwad, and now was exactly the right time to tell him so. | |
| Diaryland.com 23 Jul. 🌐 Uncle Bob calls him a ‘cocky jerkwad’, while I preferred ‘aging pretty boy.’ The former being a more visceral gut insult, whereas the latter attacks something a little more ephemeral and personal to this wannabe / never-coulda-been actor. I actually think that Subway wants people to think of the guy as a cocky jerkwad. |
(US) a stupid, contemptible person.
| in Harper’s Mag. Jan. 20: Jerkweed...Pinhead...Slimeball...Scuzzbucket [HDAS]. | |
| Mutant Reviewers From Hell 19 Jul. 🌐 In Billy Madison, Sandler is a spoiled rich lay about (goofy loser) who has to repeat his entire academic career in order to save his father’s company from the greedy clutches of some uptight, uncool, jerkweed who hates him. |
(US teen) an unpopular individual.
| Chicago Trib. Graphic Section 26 Dec. 7/1: Jive Talk [...] Drips. Sad Sam (or Sal). Cold potatoes. Junior jerk. Junior mess. Jerk of all trades. Dracula’s daughter. Sad specimen. Zombie. Black widow. Lead pipe. Light operator. |
SE in slang uses
In phrases
to hurry up.
| N&Q 12 Ser. IX 346: Jerk (To Put a, or To Get a) On. To hurry. | |
| Mating Season 110: He was [...] bidding me to get a jerk on and copy it out. |
to act vigorously, smartly or quickly.
| (con. 1914–18) Songs and Sl. of the British Soldier. | |
| Tiger of the Legion 141: ‘Come on, old son—for any sake put a jerk in it!’ . | |
| They Drive by Night 89: Here, Stan, quick. There’s a gate down there. Come on. Put a jerk in it. |