Green’s Dictionary of Slang

1. (US) a thing, a gadget, any small, mechanical contrivance.

1853		T. Haliburton Sam Slick’s Wise Saws I 157: I’ll show you the use of that ere jigger.
1873		Sl. Dict. 203: jigger has many meanings, the word being applied to any small mechanical contrivance.
1898		‘R. Andom’ Martha and I 95: Take your beastly old jigger out of my eye.
1903		Bulletin (Sydney) 10 Dec. 40/2: [of a box holding bus fares] ‘You see, I never give ’im a jigger. If I ’ad, I’d ’a’ put me bloomin’ pot on, proper.’.
1915		Bulletin (Sydney) 11 Dec. 15/3: Here he walked back ten yards and had another squint through his jigger [i.e. a telescope], pointing to the hills as it were over there.
1922		S. Lewis Babbitt (1974) 48: Certainly looks nice there. Certainly is a mighty clever little jigger.
1939		J. Steinbeck Grapes of Wrath (1951) 233: Pull down a little jigger an’ the water comes right in the toilet.
1944		H.B. Hersey G.I. Laughs 82: [cartoon] What’s that funny jigger on your tie?
1954		Sun. Mail (Brisbane) 7 Feb. 23/1: The hard-headed rider leaves nothing to chance. To ensure that nobody has a ‘start’ on him, he often uses ‘jigger’ [i.e. a device that gives the horse a speed-increasing electric shock].
1963		G. Lambert Inside Daisy Clover (1966) 36: He [...] presses a jigger under the desk, and the door opens.
1983		J. Byrell (con. 1959) Up the Cross 155: You usually find yourself having to make more use [...] of one or another of the jiggers so that you can reach the cue-ball.

2. (US tramp, also jiggers) a fake sore, wound or bandage to elicit sympathy.

1896		Neihart Herald (MT) 18 Apr. 2/4: Don’t know what a jigger is? Why ye scratch yer arm ’n put some kind of liniment on it, ’n it swells up, ’n then ye show it ter people ’n they come down with the stuff, easy, see?
1899		J. Flynt Tramping with Tramps 128: If he is a beggar of style, he usually carries a ‘jigger’ – an artificially made sore, placed usually on an arm or leg.
1912		A. Berkman Prison Memoirs of an Anarchist (1926) 165: I had him put a jigger on me.
1921		P. & T. Casey Gay-cat 252: Just so [...] must he have rubbed off the paint of his faked-up hideous blemish, that jigger across chin and cheek which had given him a certain identity among crooks.
1923		N. Anderson Hobo 44: In Hobohemia a pretended affliction is called ‘jiggers’ or ‘bugs’.
1931		Irwin Amer. Tramp and Und. Sl. 109: Jigger. – A fake burn or wound on the arm or leg resulting from an acid or other blister, and applied to gain sympathy.
1949		Monteleone Criminal Sl. (rev. edn).

3. the hod as used to carry bricks on a building site.

1896

Mirror of Life 14/3: When ‘Tut’ Ryan was carrying the ‘hod’ in South Africa he used to go from carrying the jigger, or killchrist as it is termed by the‘barks’—to fight at night.

4. (US) a tattoo.

1902

J. Flynt Little Brother 195: A ‘jigger’ was ‘damn foolishness’ [...] ‘They’ll find you out if you have ships and things jiggered into your skin.’.

5. (US) a scoop of ice-cream.

1910		O. Johnson Varmint 39: Say, we’ll have a regular gorge. It’ll be fresh Strawberry Jiggers, too. [Ibid.] 53: Two nice, creamy, double strawberry jiggers, Al.
1920		F.S. Fitzgerald This Side of Paradise in Bodley Head Scott Fitzgerald III (1960) 45: ‘Chocolate sundae,’ he told a coloured person. ‘Double chocolate jiggah? Anything else?’.

6. (also gigger) a bicycle.

1898		Broadford Courier (Vic.) 25 Feb. 5/3: ‘Jigger’ is another very popular term - in fact, most people seem to devote a tremendous amount of time and energy to avoid by any chance using the word ‘bicycle’ .
1902		Bulletin (Sydney) 30 Oct. 22/3: ‘You don’t seem to be getting on very fast – try my jigger.’ / ‘No, mister; even this ’ere goes too fast for this blessed old track.’.
1910		Magnet 27 Aug. 17: I weally don’t know why he shoved me into the jiggah in that absurd manner.
1921		N&Q 12 Ser. IX 466: Jigger. Bicycle.
1935		Thieves Slang ms list from District Police Training Centre, Ryton-on-Dunsmore, Warwicks 5: Gigger: Bicycle.

7. a motorcycle.

1911

Boys’ Best 20 Oct. 43: We might ask him if he’s broken anything – besides his jigger, I mean. I guess he won’t ride that again for a week or two.

8. a car.

1914		Bulletin (Sydney) 23 July 34/2: Curiously enough the electric car is not a silent one. It makes more row than a petrol-driven jigger, but it runs much more smoothly.
1914		T. Hampson diary 5 Aug. 🌐 I spent the rest of the day rushing about in my jigger (Morgan three wheeler), which I kept at the hospital.
1917		Hangar Happenings Nov. 5: I went out with the Boss one afternoon in the old jigger.
1923–4		F. Anthony Me And Gus (1977) 15: All he wanted me to do was to go into town with him in the jigger.

9. (Aus. Und.) an improvised radio receiver, used in prison.

1953		K. Tennant Joyful Condemned 212: His best friend [...] was now making large sums selling ‘jiggers’, tiny wireless sets, at five pounds each.
1967		‘Whisper All Aussie Dict.’ in Kings Cross Whisper (Sydney) xxxv 6/3: jigger: An illegal crystal radio used by criminals.
1983		R. Aven-Bray Ridgey-Didge Oz Jack Lang 32: Jigger Illegal gaol radio.
1990		Tupper & Wortley Aus. Prison Sl. Gloss. 🌐 Jigger. An illicit prison-built radio. A dated term since prisoners are now generally permitted to purchase radios and televisions.