Joystick
//ˈd͡ʒɔɪ.stɪk// noun, verb, slang
noun, verb, slang ·Common ·High school level
Definitions
Noun
- 1 A mechanical control device consisting of a handgrip mounted on a base or pedestal and typically having one or more buttons, used to control an aircraft, computer, or other equipment.
"If games are your life, the choice of a joystick is desperately important."
- 2 a manual control consisting of a vertical handle that can move freely in two directions; used as an input device to computers or to devices controlled by computers wordnet
- 3 A penis. slang
"She playing with my joystick All in my two seater"
- 4 a lever used by a pilot to control the ailerons and elevators of an airplane wordnet
Verb
- 1 To manoeuvre by means of a joystick (noun sense 1). rare
"Marketing your home isn't as difficult as joysticking a Mars rover through a crater, despite what many people believe."
Example
More examples"It's no use trying to find people to play Street Fighter with when you can't explain double quarter-circle joystick motions."
Etymology
From joy + stick. First attested around 1910 (as joy-stick) as the control stick on an airplane. Its relation to the word joy is unclear.
Related phrases
More for "joystick"
Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.