jerk

Etymology 1

Probably from Middle English yerk (“sudden motion”) and Middle English yerkid (“tightly pulled”), from Old English ġearc (“ready, active, quick”) and Old English ġearcian (“to prepare, make ready, procure, furnish, supply”). Related to yare.

noun

1. A sudden, often uncontrolled movement, especially of the body.
   1856, Gustave Flaubert, Madame Bovary, Part III Chapter X, translated by Eleanor Marx-Aveling The black cloth bestrewn with white beads blew up from time to time, laying bare the coffin. The tired bearers walked more slowly, and it advanced with constant jerks, like a boat that pitches with every wave.
2. A quick, often unpleasant tug or shake.
   When I yell "OK," give the mooring line a good jerk!
3. (Canada, US, slang, derogatory) A person with unlikable or obnoxious qualities and behavior, typically mean, self-centered, or disagreeable.
   Oh, Raymond―don't be such a jerk. Go and get yourself a drink or a tranquilizer or something. 1962, George Axelrod, 1:23:39 from the start, in The Manchurian Candidate, spoken by Eleanor Iselin (Angela Lansbury)
   Hey, Demon! The jerk store called, and they're all out of you! 25 September 2007, Bungie, Halo 3, v1.0, Microsoft Game Studios, [[w:Xbox 360, level/area: Halo|Xbox 360, level/area: Halo]]
   I finally fired him, because he was being a real jerk to his customers, even to some of the staff.
   You really are a jerk sometimes.
4. (US, slang, derogatory) A dull or stupid person.
5. (physics, engineering) The rate of change in acceleration with respect to time.
6. (obsolete) A soda jerk.
7. (weightlifting) A lift in which the weight is taken with a quick motion from shoulder height to a position above the head with arms fully extended and held there for a brief time.

verb

1. (intransitive) To make a sudden uncontrolled movement.
2. (transitive) To give a quick, often unpleasant tug or shake.
3. (US, slang, vulgar) To masturbate.
4. (obsolete) To beat, to hit.
5. (obsolete) To throw with a quick and suddenly arrested motion of the hand.
   to jerk a stone
6. (usually transitive, weightlifting) To lift using a jerk.
7. (obsolete) To flout with contempt.

Etymology 2

From American Spanish charquear, from charqui, from Quechua ch'arki.

noun

1. (Caribbean, Jamaica) A rich, spicy Jamaican marinade.
   Sunshine ranks high in the island's greates burger debate, while the chicken egg rolls with mango chutney and jerk mayo and fabulous fish tacos elevate pub grub to an art. 2016, Fodor's Essential Caribbean, Fodor's Travel
2. (Caribbean, Jamaica) Meat (or sometimes vegetables) cured by jerking, in which it is coated in spices and slow-cooked over a fire or grill traditionally composed of green pimento wood positioned over burning coals; charqui.
   Jerk chicken is a local favorite.

verb

1. To cure (meat) by cutting it into strips and drying it, originally in the sun.
   The Lemakot in the north strangled widows and threw them into the cremation pyres of their dead husbands. If they defeated potential invaders the New Irish hanged the vanquished from banyan trees, flensed their windpipes, removed their heads, left their intestines to jerk in the sun. 2011, Dominic Smith, Bright and Distant Shores, page 106
   This longtime West End eatery prepares chicken the way locals like it: curried, fried, jerked, and baked. 2016, Fodor's Travel Guides, Fodor's Essential Caribbean, Fodor's Travel