Green’s Dictionary of Slang

1. orig. music business, to play at a particular venue, to perform.

1937		Chicago Defender 3 Apr. 21/6: Milton Fletcher trumpet is gigging around Chicago.
1947		N.Y. Herald Trib. 10 Mar. n.p.: At present he is ‘gigging around,’ a musician’s term for those who take casual dates whenever they can find them.
1952		H. Sinclair Music Out Of Dixie 158: I only played with him a few times, jes’ giggin’ aroun’.
1965		(con. 1940s) Malcolm X Autobiog. (1968) 127: There’s a lot of bread to made gigging right around here in Roxbury.
1978		R. Price Ladies’ Man (1985) 12: I’m a lion tamer. I used to gig with Terrytoon Circus.
1999		K. Sampson Powder 4: The band started gigging.
2000		Guardian Editor 14 Jan. 10: After I moved out here to Los Angeles, I was gigging in the coffee houses.
2007		D.S. Mitchell Killer Tune (2008) 32: Never gigs in Hoxton.

2. (US campus) to give a party.

1967		J. Horton ‘Time and cool people’ in Trans-action 4 5/1: Street people are known also by their activities — ‘duking’ (fighting or at least looking tough), ‘hustling’ (any way of making money outside the ‘legitimate’ world of work), ‘gigging’ (partying).
1971		Current Sl. VI.

3. (US) to work, esp. at a number of short-lived jobs.

1971		H.E. Roberts Third Ear n.p.: gig v. to work.
1975		E. Torres Carlito’s Way 146: A cat with heart is gonna gig in some shoulder-pad factory.
2023		(con. 1962) J. Ellroy Enchanters 71: Kinney left the Sheriff’s and gigged the State Beverage Control.

4. (US campus) to have a single night’s sex with someone [colloq. gig, a brief sexual entanglement + gig n.¹⁰ (1)].

1989		P. Munro Sl. U.
1997–2000		College Sl. Research Project (Cal. State Poly. Uni., Pomona) 🌐 Gig {vulgar} (verb) To have sex with a large amount of people in one night or at one time.

5. to go to a musical performance.

1997–2001

Online Sl. Dict. 🌐 gigging v 1. to party, go to bars or clubs. (‘I’m bored. Lets go gigging tonight.’).

6. to socialize.

2002

Teen Lingo: The Source for Youth Ministry 🌐 giggan v. (derived from ‘gigging’) [...] 2. A generic verb used for an assortment of activities. usually the form of ‘to be’ I’m just giggin it here with my friends!