Jot

//d͡ʒɒt// noun, verb

Definitions

Noun
  1. 1
    The smallest letter or stroke of any writing; an iota.

    "This bond doth giue thee here no iote of blood, / The vvords expreſly are a pound of fleſh: / Take then thy bond, take thou thy pound of fleſh, / But in the cutting of it, if thou doſt ſhed / One drop of Chriſtian blood, thy lands and goods / Are by the lavves of Venice, confiſcate / Vnto the State of Venice."

  2. 2
    A jerk, a jolt. obsolete, rare

    "[F]requent jot / Of his hard ſetting jade did ſo confound / The vvords that he by papyr-ſtealth had got, / That their loſt ſenſe the youngſter could not ſound, / Though he vvith mimical attention did abound."

  3. 3
    a brief (and hurriedly handwritten) note wordnet
  4. 4
    A small, or the smallest, amount of a thing; a bit, a whit. broadly

    "He didn’t care a jot for his work."

  5. 5
    a slight but appreciable amount wordnet
Show 2 more definitions
  1. 6
    A small, or the smallest, amount of a thing; a bit, a whit.; An instant, a moment. broadly, obsolete

    "So vveake my povvres, ſo ſore my vvounds appeare, / that vvonder is hovv I ſhould liue a iot, / ſeeing my hart through launched euery vvhere / vvith thouſand arrovves, vvhich your eies haue ſhot: […]"

  2. 7
    A brief and hurriedly written note.

    ""Lover," you say; "how beautiful that is, / That little word!” […] / Yes, it is beautiful. I have marked it long, / Long in my dusty head its jot secreted, / Yet my heart never knew this word a song / Till in the night softly by you repeated."

Verb
  1. 1
    Chiefly followed by down: to write (something) quickly; to make a brief note of (something). transitive

    "Tell me your order so I can jot it down."

  2. 2
    To jerk or jolt (something); to jog. dialectal, transitive

    "Nowe is iuſte iuſtice, ſo iotted out of iointe, / That ye here vniuſtely, ſtande at deniall, / To do me iuſtice, and wolde by power ryall: / Directe mine acquitall or condemnacion, / Euen as wyll in both: weith your acceptacion."

  3. 3
    write briefly or hurriedly; write a short note of wordnet

Etymology

Etymology 1

The noun is borrowed from Latin iōta (“the letter iota of the Ancient Greek alphabet”), from Ancient Greek ἰῶτα (iôta, “ninth letter of the Ancient Greek alphabet; (figurative) very small part of writing, jot”), from Phoenician 𐤉 (y‬, “tenth letter of the Phoenician abjad, yodh”). Doublet of iota and yodh. Etymology 1 sense 3 (“brief and hurriedly written note”) is derived from the verb. The verb is probably borrowed from Scots jot, from English jot (noun): see above.

Etymology 2

The noun is borrowed from Latin iōta (“the letter iota of the Ancient Greek alphabet”), from Ancient Greek ἰῶτα (iôta, “ninth letter of the Ancient Greek alphabet; (figurative) very small part of writing, jot”), from Phoenician 𐤉 (y‬, “tenth letter of the Phoenician abjad, yodh”). Doublet of iota and yodh. Etymology 1 sense 3 (“brief and hurriedly written note”) is derived from the verb. The verb is probably borrowed from Scots jot, from English jot (noun): see above.

Etymology 3

The verb is possibly onomatopoeic, suggesting a jerking motion. The noun is derived from the verb.

Etymology 4

The verb is possibly onomatopoeic, suggesting a jerking motion. The noun is derived from the verb.

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