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Fizgig
Definitions
- 1 A flirtatious, coquettish girl, inclined to gad or gallivant about; a gig, a giglot, a jillflirt. archaic
"You thinke (perhaps) to win great fame / by uncouth sutes and fashions wilde: / All such as know you thinke the same, / but in ech kind you are beguilde; / For when you looke for praises sound; / Then are you for light fisgiggs crownde."
- 2 A small squib-like firework that explodes with a fizzing or hissing noise. archaic
"What the Chevalier [Mortram] is about to do no one is supposed to know but himself. In the impenetrable breast of the artist lies the determination […] whether a Devil-among-the-Tailors shall end his freaks with a grand explosion of flower-pots and fizzgigs; […] or a fiery dragon to dart and wriggle and spit fire over the heads of the spectators."
- 3 A spear with a barb on the end of it, used for catching fish, frogs, or other small animals; a type of harpoon.
"At day break we were cloſe by the Peninſule Mozambique (part of Quiloa) inhabited by Negroes; abundant in Gold, Silver, and Ambergreece; […] [A]n Armado of Dolphins aſſaulted us; and ſuch we ſaulted as we could intice to taſte our hooks or fiſſgiggs: […]"
- 4 A police informer, a stool pigeon, someone employed by police to entrap someone else or provoke them to commit a crime. Australia, dated, slang
"In order to make the clause perfect the Minister might add— / All "spotters," spies, fizgigs, and informers will be properly rewarded, and duly promoted, and guaranteed against publicity."
- 5 common ragwort (Jacobaea vulgaris, syn. Senecio jacobaea). Scotland, rare
"S[enecio] jacobæa. Ragwort: Yellow-weed: Yellow elshinders, and in the Merse [Berwickshire], Fizz-gigs.—A common weed in old pastures and by road-sides."
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- 6 a firework that fizzes as it moves wordnet
- 7 Something frivolous or trivial; a gewgaw, a trinket. archaic
""[…] Lillie did the best she could, poor girl! but I could see all the time she was worrying about her new fizgigs and folderols in the house.[…]" / "[…] Young mistresses, you see, have nerves all over their house at first. They tremble at every dent in their furniture, and wink when you come near it, as if you were going to hit it a blow; but that wears off in time, and they learn to take it easy.""
- 8 an implement with a shaft and barbed point used for catching fish wordnet
- 1 To roam around in a frivolous manner; to gad about, to gallivant. archaic, intransitive
"Why should I go gadding and fizgigging after firking flantado amphibologies?"
- 2 To act as a police informer or agent provocateur. Australia, dated, slang
"The employment of "fiz-gigs" – men engaged by detectives to tempt discharged prisoners to commit specified […] The report of Mr. Francis Longmore and his colleagues may indeed have tended to diminish "fiz-gigging" […]"
Etymology
From Middle English gig (“a frivolous woman”); the first element of the word may be from fise (“an instance of flatulence”), from fist (“an act of breaking wind”).
From Middle English gig (“a frivolous woman”); the first element of the word may be from fise (“an instance of flatulence”), from fist (“an act of breaking wind”).
From fizz + gig (“a whirling thing”).
Possibly from Spanish fisga (“harpoon”).
Origin unknown.
Origin unknown.
Origin unknown.
See also for "fizgig"
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