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To maneuver; to move hither and thither. [Colloq.] Wooden arms with elbow joints jerking and fugling in the air. Carlyle.

To move with a swing, toss, throw, jerk, or the like. [Dial. or Colloq.]

To move interruptedly or with halts, jerks, or steps; -- said of something obstructed or impeded. Slides into verse, and hitches in a rhyme. Pope. To ease themselves . . . by hitching into another place. Fuller.

rill to the rod or rope which works it, so that the drill is driven down by impact and is jerked loose when jammed.

To jerk; to jolt; to be shaken. [Obs.] Wiseman.

A sudden shock or jerk; a jolting motion, as in a carriage moving over rough ground. The first jolt had like to have shaken me out. Swift.

breeches. See under Breeches. -- Knee holly, Knee holm (Bot.), butcher's broom. -- Knee jerk (Physiol.) a jerk or kick produced by a blow or sudden strain upon the patellar tendon of the knee, which causes a sudden contraction of the quadriceps muscle; one of the so-called tendon reflexes. -- Knee joint. See in the…

To throw out with a jerk or quickly. He falls, and lashing up his heels, his rider throws. Dryden.

cian; sweet cider makes sour vinegar; wool makes warm clothing. And old cloak makes a new jerkin. Shak.

An involuntary movement produced by reflex action. Patellar reflex. See Knee jerk, under Knee.

he brain and spinal cord. It is associated with complete or partial paralysis, a peculiar jerking tremor of the muscles, headache, and vertigo, and is usually fatal. Called also multiple, disseminated, or insular, sclerosis.

To throw sidewise with a jerk; to fling; as, to shy a stone; to shy a slipper. T. Hughes.

es of small butterflies of the family Hesperiadæ; -- so called from their peculiar short, jerking flight.

ngs, as a sleeve or other part of a garment, to show rich lining or under vesture. A gray jerkin, with scarlet and slashed sleeves. Sir W. Scott.

To throw with a jerk; to throw edge foremost. [Obs.] [Written also squirr.] Addison.

To walk with a jerk. [Prov. Eng.]

An East Indian tick trefoil (Meibomia gyrans), whose lateral leaflets jerk up and down like the arms of a semaphore, and also rotate on their axes.

contract by a blow upon its tendon. Its absence is generally a sign of disease. See Knee jerk, under Knee.

. Tossed (; (less properly Tost ); p. pr. & vb. n. Tossing.] Etym: [ W. tosiaw, tosio, to jerk, toss, snatch, tosa quick jerk, a toss, a snatch. ]

To pinch and pull with a sudden jerk and twist; to twitch; as, to tweak the nose. Shak.